Kin of Gabon victims urge govt help

Several of 93 labourers taken to the West African country are yet to be brought home Hyderabad: For Mopathi Aruna, bringing her father back to the country, is sole meaning of her life and she has been moving from pillar to post in the Secretariat to meet the officials to fulfil his task. Aruna's father Mopathi Satyanarayana was taken to Gabon, a West African country, as a worker for constructing residential quarters for the employees of an industrial park. Speaking to The Hans India, Aruna said, "I am worried about the health of my father who has been suffering from malaria. I met Minister for Civil Supplies and NRI Affairs and requested him to make arrangements to bring him back. We are spending sleepless nights for our father's safety and return." She could enter the Secretariat with the help of her cousin M Satyanarayna and K Narasimham Naidu, leader of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. When The Hans India spoke to Satyanarayana over phone, he said: "There are heavy rains here and the mosquito menace could not be depicted," he said and added he administered 13 glucose bottles after being affected by fever. After The Hans India brought to light the woes of the labourers on March 2, Ramky Group brought back 13 of the 93 persons exposed to hardships in Gabon. Teddu Babu who was brought back to India said, "Sir, you cannot find even a water bottle, but you can get liquor easily." The tribes there were primitive and they were not even dressed properly. They lived on roots and herbs harvested from the forests, he said. As many as 93 labourers were taken to Gabon on December 6, 2012, by Ramky Group through OMCAP, an overseas man power supply company. Thirty five of them fell sick due to bad weather. Datthu, another worker who came out from the edge of the death, said, "We faced a lot of problems there and we were placed in the dense forest where there were no hospitals. I was administered 30 glucose bottles to recover from typhoid."