Hassan Cheruppa Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Most of those who turned up for registering their names at the Indian missions in Riyadh and Jeddah are runaway (Huroob) workers. But on the first day of the high level delegation's visit here, there was nothing to soothe their feelings or give at least some comfort to them to ease their grim and desperate situation. Addressing a community reception on the Jeddah Consulate General premises, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said: “Huroob is a pending issue. As it is not a one-day affair, we do not have an immediate solution.” Echoing in the same vein on the subject, Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao said: “Huroob is involved of complex issues.” During the event, most of the questions raised were about Huroob. Many participants wanted specific replies from the ministers and ambassador on how they are going to address the issue of tens of thousands of stranded Huroob victims. But they failed to get any satisfactory answer on the issue. After the session, most of those who approached the ministers with petitions were Huroob victims. Well-known expatriate writer and Keralite social worker Musthafa Keethadath was one among them. Musthafa, who is a pharmacist by profession, has been waging a legal battle with his sponsor for more than six years. “When I was denied salary and annual vacation for nearly three years, I approached the Jeddah Labor Court and the court, in its ruling in 2008, directed the sponsor to give SR72,000 in compensation and a release from the sponsor but he appealed the verdict in the Supreme Court,” he said. “Though the case is still being fought at the appeals court, the sponsor reported me as Huroob, and that was in clear violation of the Labor Law,” Musthafa added. Fed up with the legal battle and entrenched in deep financial crisis, Musthafa now only wants to remove the Huroob tag and get an exit at the earliest. He submitted a petition to Ravi to take a humanitarian approach in his case. “I am mentally prepared to give up the compensation that amounts to my salary and allowances for a few years. I came to meet the delegation in the hope that they would take this matter up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to remove the Huroob tag. Musthafa was not in a position to go home for the last nine years, during which his father died. “Last year, I lost my child because of deep financial trouble and absence of medical insurance. The child was born with severe heart problems and there was no way to give him treatment and eventually it died within a few days.” Those who met Ravi and presented a petition also included Anil Abul Rasheed and his wife who hail from the minister's native city Cherthala in Kerala. Anil, an A/C technician, was reported as Huroob seven years ago. “Now, my sponsor is in jail after being involved in another case. The sponsor's representative is asking SR30,000 to sort out the issue,” he said while appealing to the delegation to intervene on his behalf to solve the issue.
