18 Gujaratis return home from Riyadh

There has been much rejoicing in the sleepy town of Ghogha on the southern coast of Gujarat. Six of their men returned home safely after being stranded for almost two years at a construction site in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Of the 20 Gujaratis who were stranded in Riyadh, 18 returned recently. One had returned last year while one has chosen to stay back hoping to win the court case and return with pending dues. Eight of the 20 are from Ghogha alone.

The returning workmen told Mirror that their iqama (work permit) was updated because of co-operation of the Labour Court in Riyadh and diligent follow-up of their situation by officials from the Indian Embassy. The latter even paid for their flight tickets back to India after their exit visas were stamped by the Saudi authorities.

These men are among 61 Indians and several foreign nationals including Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis who were living in deplorable conditions after their contracting firm, registered as A&P in the UAE and Saudi Specialist Construction Limited (SSCL) in Saudi Arabia, ran into problems and the management allegedly deserted the workers.

Of the 61 Indians, 39 were brought back on February 29 and March 1. One from Gujarat had returned last year, taking the total number of returnees to 40. The remaining 21 decided to stay back in the hope of winning their court case. Of these, six have now applied for exit visas and will soon return home even as 15 Indians continue to stay in Riyadh.


Help from home

Crediting Mirror's report for their return, Iqbal Rathod said, "Our iqama had not been updated in three years even though it has to be done every year. So we were imprisoned there. After reading your report, officials from the Embassy called us and stayed in touch. We finally landed in Mumbai on February 29. We took a bus to Ahmedabad and then to Bhavnagar. Others took connecting flights from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. People from other parts of India were given tickets to their nearest international airport."

On life in Riyadh, he said, "We lived in fear of the police for no fault of ours. Our labour officer had forced our sponsor to give us money for food. Only two of us had valid iqamas and they used to go out and get food for us. We left the compound a couple of times at night to walk to the nearby supermarket but never ventured too far for fear of getting arrested."

Rathod was a foreman in the company and used to learn 5,500 SAR (Saudi Riyal) a month. None of the workers had been paid for a year since the company owners abandoned them and for nine months of work before that. They have hired an advocate to represent them in the case against the owners at a labour court in Riyadh. Rathod said they all hope for a positive outcome.

He expressed gratitude to the Indian Embassy officials in Riyadh for working tirelessly to get them back to India. While he could not recall their full names, he named 'Gambhir' and 'Harikrishna' as two officials who kept in touch with the workers.

Mirror had on September 19, 2019, highlighted the plight of stranded Indians when 52-year-old Mohammed Yasin Gulambhai Shaikh of Ghogha, whose permit was valid, returned and revealed the condition of his colleagues. Since the work permits of most had expired in June 2018, they risked arrest if caught. In reply to the report, the Indian Embassy in Riyadh had in a tweet assured that officials were in touch with the stranded workers and that efforts were underway to seek a resolution to their problems.

Mirror spoke to Ansar Rathod, sarpanch of Ghogha Piram Group Gram Panchayat, who had written a letter to the MEA on September 4, 2019 with copies to the state and district administration seeking urgent attention to the plight of the workers and requesting to bring them back home. Rathod said, "The cooperation between the Indian Embassy and the Labour Ministry in Riyadh assured the return of our family members and we are thankful for the same."

Gujaratis in the group

Of the 61 Indians, 20 were from Gujarat. While the most number of people, eight, hail from Ghogha in Bhavnagar (excluding Shaikh), five hail from Navsari (2 from Navsari city, 2 from Bilimora, 1 from Amalsad), three are from Surat (2 from Surat city, 1 from Kos village), three from Balasinor in Mahisagar and one from Vadodara.