A number of social organizations run by expatriates of various nationalities in Saudi Arabia have been reaching out to distressed workers in the expatriate community. Riyadh-based India Fraternity Forum is one such social organization engaged in welfare activities for members of the Indian community. IFF office-bearers attended an annual meeting last week in Riyadh and discussed the nature of issues that the Indian workers have faced last year. Salim Moulavi Al-Qasimi, IFF's office-bearer presided over the meeting and issued the annual report 2010. The report observed that the Forum's coordination committee received about 530 requests for help from Indian workers last year. IFF's representatives accordingly have reached out to about 1,100 such workers and helped them settle their problems. Cases ranged from labor disputes, delayed or non-payment of salaries, assistance in traffic accidents and mediating with sponsors that failed to provide newly-arrived Indian drivers with a Saudi driving license, as required by law in the Kingdom. The IFF representatives have also visited distressed workers who have landed in jail for some reason or the other. The IFF also collected data from those Indians in deportation centers who are awaiting exit from Saudi Arabia. The report finds that a number of Indians remained in jail even after completing their terms. Another common dispute involving Indian nationals is sponsors' reluctance to pay end-of-service benefits to those who want to terminate their employment contract and go home for good on exit-only visa. The Forum also reaches out to those injured Indian nationals in need of urgent medical treatment, including blood donation. Indian housemaids have also registered various sponsorship problems with the forum, including the issues of long working hours and non-payment of their salaries, the report indicated. The annual report underscored the cooperation that the IFF has been receiving from the Saudi Human Rights Society and the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and its Consulate in Jeddah for early settlement of most cases. One of the IFF's achievements in 2010 was an amicable settlement with a company that agreed to pay overtime to the employees that worked more than eight hours as stipulated in the employment contract. The Indian Embassy intervened and negotiated with the concerned employers for payment of overtime allowances to the Indian workers. In another case, when some Indian workers went on strike after a water distribution company failed to meet their valid demands, IFF intervention helped about 200 workers settle the labor dispute amicably with the management of the company. About 22 engineers who arrived in Riyadh were stranded after the company refused to accept them on the pretext that Indians came to Saudi Arabia on fake employment visas. IFF not only mediated between the employees and the company's management but also offered legal assistance that helped the workers to go back home. However, these skilled Indian workers, mostly computer engineers, had to bear the cost of their visas that amounted to SR12,000 each and more. They had no shelter, food or legal documents during their stay in Riyadh. The IFF had also intervened to find a solution for 20 workers that a private company in Tabuk refused to give monthly basic salaries –ranging from four to nine months. The company later sent the workers to Riyadh without accommodation orfood. The IFF also worked hard to get the release of Aji Wilson, an Indian worker from Kollam, from a Saudi jail. Wilson was languishing in prison after completing his four-year jail term. Perhaps most significantly, the IFF successfully mobilized about 250 volunteers to serve the “Guests of Allah” during last year's Haj. The volunteers received all possible help from a Saudi charity that enabled them to offer services to pilgrims, most of whom were elderly and had lost their accommodation or faced health problems. IFF is currently engaged in bureaucratic formalities to enable the release of Indians who have been jailed for various reasons during the past several years. The paperwork for some of the inmates is in its final stage of completion. There are also a number of Indians convicted in traffic accidents. Some possess vehicles without proper documents, such as a Saudi driving license. Their employers have forced them to drive and following traffic accidents, they were understandably jailed and consequently abandoned by their sponsors. IFF urges Indian expatriates to respect Saudi labor laws and avoid falling into trouble. The IFF's representatives expressed deep condolences on the untimely death of the Forum's social workers Salahudeen from Kollam district in Kerala, Rafeeq (from Madurai) and Sakeer Hussain (from Kozhikode). They were in various road accidents in Saudi Arabia. The annual meeting concluded with a prayer for the quick recovery of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Among those attending the annual meeting were Basheer Engapuzha, IFF Saudi national coordinator; Jalaludheen Kannur; Haris and Muhammad Ashraf Melattur (Kerala); Fayazuddin and Ramsudeen Chennai (Tamil Nadu); Haris (Karnataka) Javed (Andhra Pradesh) and Sayyid Ali (West Bengal).
