Dubai: Around 50,000 Indian expatriates
mainly unskilled labourers, were deported from Saudi Arabia
until mid-September following an amnesty announced by the
Saudi government, an Indian diplomat has said.
The figures include workers without valid residency
papers or work permits as well as Haj or Umrah overstayers,
who were all issued emergency travel documents by the Indian
missions in Riyadh and Jeddah during the amnesty period.
"This is a record repatriation exercise carried out by
the Indian diplomatic missions in cooperation with Saudi
government agencies," TC Barupal, first secretary at the
Indian Embassy who looks after community welfare issues, was
quoted by Arab News as saying.
Barupal said plans were under way to set up an Indian
Workers Resource Center for providing information and a
counselling service to members of the Indian community.
The centre will also have IT facilities, a facility for
web-based attestation, capability to track down all complaints
registered and to extend all possible assistance to workers.
Indian government has initiated this pilot project, which
is a free, walk-in resource centre providing Indian workers,
especially semi-skilled and unskilled labourers, direct access
to welfare services.
Barupal said India and Saudi Arabia had forged closer
ties in all sectors. Two-way trade exceeded USD 21 billion in
2010-11, a sevenfold increase over the last five years, he
added.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 13:49