Indian envoy in Saudi requested to rescue 33 Odia workers

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has sought the intervention of the ambassador of India at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to rescue the Odia workers who have been stranded in that country. After receiving distress calls from some of the Odia workers employed in the Gulf country, Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena on Thursday wrote a letter to Suhel Azaj Khan, ambassador of India at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The workers were apparently cheated by their employers, he said.

The Chief Secretary has also forwarded a copy of his letter to the Joint Secretary (Gulf Division),

Ministry of External Affairs. “It is found that 33 of them are from Odisha while 10 others are from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Gulf Odia Society, which was pressed into service, could contact the forlorn workers from Odisha and it is found that their Iqama (Visa) are not being renewed by their company owners (Qafeel),” the Chief Secretary wrote in his letter.

The workers, who are employed by M/s Hadi Al Hammam Group, at Camp-47, Juaymah in Saudi Arabia, have not been paid their salary and are deprived of basic amenities like food, water and medicines, Jena said.

Attaching a list of the 33 persons from Odisha along with his letter, Jena requested the Indian ambassador in Saudi for their rescue and repatriation. The 33 workers from Odisha had gone to Saudi Arabia in May last year.