With Salary Not Paid For One Year, 3000 Indians Struggle To Survive In Kuwait

The plight of over 3,000 Indians stranded in Kuwait continues. Waiting for their salaries from Kharafi National Company, many are on the verge of suicide, says social activist Shaheen Sayyed. For the past one year, the company has not paid wages to the employees saying it does not have sufficient funds. The protest of 45 Indian workers, camping at the Kharafi National Company has touched the 14th day today.

Shaheen Sayyed, who is closely associated with the Indian workers and have been repeatedly posting about the issue on her Facebook wall and Twitter handle, spoke to The Logical Indian and said that she is with them and she has been urging officials to pay attention for a long time. Indian embassy has urged Kuwait government to solve the financial crisis by setting up a welfare fund. National Human Rights Commision (NHRC) has turned to authorities to find a solution, followed by a complaint filed by Shaheen.

Stranded Indian Workers in Kuwait pic.twitter.com/Xbm4MyfC4r

— Shaheen Sayyed (@nihahs24) January 8, 2018

On Saturday, Union minister for the state of external affairs VK Singh tweeted in response to Shaheen’s tweet that Kuwait government has been delayed in finding a solution to the problem. After VK Singh has responded to Shaheen’s tweet, many workers sought help too. Minister said that the Indian embassy has already started working to solve the problem.

Union Minister of state for external affairs Gen VK Singh says government trying to help Indian workers suffering in Kuwait. My report in @timesofindia @nihahs24 https://t.co/2pq5y6Ob50

— Sushil Rao (@sushilrTOI) January 7, 2018

Other problems

The workers are from different parts of India including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Their visas have expired, and passport is with the company. They can not go to hospitals for treatment because they would be caught for staying in the country illegally. Shaheen, with the help of some community organisations, provides food for them and provides counselling for the depressed individuals.

“We have no choice, I have to pay Rs 80,000 to go back to my native. Others have no visa. We request social media to pay attention to our issue and spread it” says a worker who appears in one of the videos shared on Shaheen’s twitter handle.

It is high time for the government to fix the crisis. Shaheen says that there are a large number of Indians in Kuwait and the staff is not sufficient to handle the increased number of labour cases in Indian embassy.

The Logical Indian hopes that the workers receive their salaries as soon as possible.