Kin of stranded labourers in Gulf seek state govt's support

Rajahmundry: Families of labourers who lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, due to a slump in construction industry there and a general decline in crude oil prices, have urged the state government to help their members return home safely. Over 10,000 workers are reportedly out of job and living without wages for months in the Saudi city of Jeddah and elsewhere. Families from villages like in Narasapuram division in West Godavari have large numbers of men in the Gulf working as domestic help, construction labourers, masons, fitters and drivers, feeding their families back home with their monthly earnings there. The out-of-job workers are calling their family members back home and narrating their ordeal. The Union Government has sent minister General V.K. Singh to Saudi Arabia to help these workers, and see the possibility of repatriations.

The district administration has no data on the number of villagers migr-ating to the Gulf every year from Narasapuram division. Usually, unlicensed agents lure women and send them for work and get commission from the main agents in the Gulf, but these agents lose track once the women reach the Gulf. Women aged between 30 and 40 go there and stay for about six to eight years while men stay for about 12 years.

They return home once a year with money, and return to the Gulf. Narasapuram sub collector A.S. Dinesh Kumar said, “We have not received any appeal from the families of those who were stranded in the Gulf so far. However, we got requests to bring back some ailing person in Oman.”