Kin of Punjabis in Saudi Arabia seek help

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 8

At least 4,000 Indian nationals are stuck in various camps of a construction company in Saudi Arabia, of whom at least 1,000 are Punjabis. Around 500 of them are from Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur.

For the past six months, Indians working in Saudi Arabia are stuck in Riyadh, Jeddah, among other cities in Saudi Arabia. The claims were made by at least 50 families of these construction workers who are languishing in company camps sans passports and visas for the past over seven months. The families on Saturday approached state BJP general secretary, Rakesh Rathour, seeking the intervention of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

A video released by a group of men stuck in Jeddah and another by a Bihar resident have been shared by the families. A Punjab resident claims that as many as 4,000 Indian nationals are stuck in various cities of Saudi Arabia, of whom many are Punjabis.

Dharamveer Singh, brother of Avtar Singh, who went to Riaydh in 2013, says, “My brother went to work with a construction company. It has now shut operations. Thousands of Indians are stranded in the company camp. They haven’t been paid for the past six months.”

While both the state BJP unit leaders have already approached the Ministry of External Affairs, the party functionaries said they were working to arrange their meeting in Delhi soon.

Rathour said, “They are committed to bringing back all Indians stuck in Saudi Arabia. BJP national secretary RP Singh and state president Shwait Malik are already coordinating on the issue. We expect to arrange a meeting of the families with the Eternal Affairs Ministry soon.”