Hyderabad: Although the Indian government has introduced laws and rules for the protection of Indian labourers working in Gulf countries, some unauthorised agents from Telugu states continue to operate and are involved in selling women to Arabs as bonded labour.
M. Laxmi, who works as a maid in Kuwait, has sent a voice message to this correspondent on Monday. She said she was from Kalipatnam (West) village in Mogalthur mandal of West Godavari district.
Her husband M. Kanaka Raju died on April 15 and she came to know about the death on April 17.
“I requested my kafil (employer) to allow me to visit my village. I have two children and my husband was taking care of them. Our children will become orphans if I don’t go there. But, our employer did not allow me to visit India,” she said. Ms Laxmi said that she went to Saudi three years ago and got a job as a house maid. “I did not get a single penny from the first kafil. I came to know that our agent had sold me. When the kafil relocated to another place, he sold me to an old woman in Kuwait. Since two years I have been working as bonded labour with the lady. She always threatens me with dire consequences as her two sons are with the Kuwaiti police,” she said in the voice message.
Since her employer wanted proof of her husband’s death, Ms Laxmi requested people in her village to send photographs of her children and the death certificate of her husband. “The death certificate was generated on April 20 and I showed it to my kafil but she is still not allowing me to visit my village. I have no option. I worry about the future of my children,” Laxmi said.
Another woman, K. Subhadramma, who works in Saudi Arabia and lost her son K. Jayachandra Naidu in the recent horrific lorry mishap in Munaga-palem, alleged that the agent sold her daughter-in-law for Rs 3 lakh.
“My daughter-in-law K. Renuka came to Saudi three months back and she is working in the same city. But I can’t find her address. She doesn’t know about the death of her husband Jayacha-ndra. She has two children and my son was taking care of them in the village. I am requesting my kafil to allow me to visit my native place to take care of my grandsons. I request the AP government to find my daughter-in-law,” she said.
Salma Begum from Hyderabad too was allegedly sent to Saudi Arabia by two agents identified as Akram and Shafi, on a housemaid’s visa. Her relatives say she was sold by her agents for Rs 3 lakh.
