Chennai: Three fishermen among 11 who made the roadsides of Kuwait their home for over a year reached Chennai airport on Sunday morning. While another six of them took a direct flight of Thiruvananthapuram, two of them are still stranded at Kuwait, looking for help. All the nine fishermen had to pay Rs 1 lakh each to the contractors, in order to get their passport back.
The three fishermen — Aneesh (24) from Thiruvannathapuram, John Kamil (41) and Shibin (25) from Kanyakumari thanked the Tamil and Malayalee associations from Kuwait for rendering continuous support.
Eleven fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadu and Kerala went to Kuwait in May last year after the contractors promised them a good income. The contractors who stuck to the promise for three months started paying them very meagre amounts which were not sufficient to meet their basic needs of food and shelter. Narrating the tragic experience, John Kamil said, “When we confronted the contractor, he said that we had taken money in advance, which is completely untrue. They confiscated our passports and refused to return it, without paying them money.”
They were thrown to the streets in no time. “The Indian embassy refused to help us stating that it is a financial issue. Through the Tamil and Malayalee associations, we contacted our family members and paid the contractors,” said Shibin.
“We were also arrested when we confronted the contractor about our pay,” a moist-eyed Shibin added. They were released after taking them into the custody for a month. “We were cheated. It is distressing that neither the state nor the central government supported us,” they said.
