Kuala Lumpur, July 25: Nearly a month after a Malaysian court directed the employer of 52 Indian workers from south India to pay all wages owed and their to and fro air fares and legal costs, another batch of workers, this time from Punjab, are facing labour problems. Most cases so far have involved workers from the southern states, but Malaysian agents are finding counterparts in Punjab, Delhi, Sikkim and Bihar, who also persuade desperate job-seekers to buy tickets and contracts for supposedly well paid positions.
In the latest case 14 Punjabis from Gurdaspur district found a starkly different reality awaited them in Ipoh, a city in northern Malaysia.
They allege they were sent to Malaysia by a Delhi-based agent and a mediator Sarovar Singh from Gurudaspur. The Malaysian agent Amerjeet Singh who placed them with an employer in Ipoh is already involved in several controversial cases, including the Chin Well Fasteners and Tong Yong Metals case which involved the 52 workers.
"We paid Rs 91,000 each to Sarovar Singh who said we will get Rs 35,000 per month salary in Malaysia," Vinod Kumar Singh, one of the workers said from Ipoh yesterday.
"But when he brought us to Delhi we were told by the Delhi agent that we will get Rs 25,000 per month for initial three months and this will then increased to Rs 35,000," Singh alleged. Bureau Report