Shams Ahsan

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — Some 20-22 Indian workers have stopped work at a project in Jubail because they have not been paid their salaries for months and their iqamas (residence permits) have expired and have not been renewed.



“We are going through hell as we have nothing to eat,” one of the workers told Saudi Gazette on the phone from Jubail.



“We were hired by a general contracting company two years ago for a housing project to replace air-conditioning units. Initially we received our salaries intermittently, but for the past six months nothing has been paid to us,” the worker said.



“We want to go home,” he said, echoing his co-workers’ demand. He said the workers filed a case at the Jubail labor office, but after one month they were told to approach the higher court.



“We don’t have money to buy food. How can we fight our case in the labor court?” the worker asked. They sent emails and called the Indian Embassy in Riyadh. They were asked to send their details.



The worker said that they have even written to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi about their plight.



Project Manager Roy Nicholas admitted that there are some issues with the contracting company which subcontracted these workers for the project.



He told Saudi Gazette that more than 50 workers have been sent on exit and another 150 took transfer to other companies. He, however, said the project is on, but that these workers were on strike.



The workers, however,  claim that work at the project has stopped. The last group of some Filipino workers wrote to their embassy and they left the project, according to the Indian worker.



Attempts to contact the company owner failed. Some 45 Indian workers are stuck in a similar situation in Jeddah as a Dammam-based contracting company which brought them to the Kingdom subcontracted them to a construction firm which has not paid their salaries since July. The Indian consulate in Jeddah is in touch with these workers and providing them with food.