Indian Consulate's intervention ends woes of workers

DUBAI — The nightmare has finally ended for two Indian workers, Kailesh Ram and Zakir Hussien, both from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh who were forced by their agents to work in war-ravaged Iraq after being brought to Dubai on a visit visa.

By Riyasbabu

Published: Fri 11 Aug 2006, 10:35 AM

Last updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 6:08 PM

Their miseries ended following intervention of the Indian Consulate General in Dubai.

After five months toil and hard labour after first landing in Dubai, both workers were scheduled to leave at 2.20am early this morning on an Indian Airlines flight to New Delhi.

According to Geetha Krishnan, a member of the Indian Community Welfare Committee, the Consulate has provided food, shelter and air tickets to the two workers. "Both had overstayed by two months in the UAE. We contacted the immigration officials in Dubai who waived off all fines imposed for over-staying illegally," she said.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Kailesh said, "We feel relieved and happy to be returning home. It was a traumatic experience for us. But thanks to the consulate officials, our ordeal is now finally over."

Khaleej Times had reported earlier about the plight of the workers. Both had paid a huge amount to unscrupulous recruiting agents in India for obtaining an employment visa in UAE. But they were forced by their agents to work in Iraq and both later absconded from Ajman where they were given accommodation. They alleged they were badly beaten up when they refused to go to Iraq for work.

The plight of the two Indian workers has helped shed light on the modus operandi of such recruiting agents who also forge documents. "They took away my passport and removed the relevant page where Indian emigration officials had stamped the travel ban for Iraq. They replaced this page with another blank page. They did the same way in other cases also," revealed Kailesh.

Despite the ban imposed by the Indian government on its citizens to travel to Iraq, many unscrupulous agents are involved in trafficking Indian workers to Iraq using Dubai as a transit point. Most of these workers, it is understood, are brought to Dubai on a visit visa and then compelled to go to Iraq on forged travel documents.

An official from the Indian consulate said, "We are trying to crack down on agents indulging in such illegal activities. We have already informed the Indian government about this issue and stringent measures are proposed to be taken to counter it effectively."