Saudi govt intervenes to help stranded Indian expats, vows necessary action

August 3, 2016

Riyadh, Aug 3: Saudi Arabia today agreed to swiftly resolve plight of thousands of laid-off Indian workers including providing them free passage to return to India and clearing their unpaid dues after Union Minister V K Singh apprised the Saudi government about the humanitarian crisis.

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The Minister of State for External Affairs held extensive talks with Saudi Labour Minister Mufrej Al Haqbani here who promised urgent action to resolve the difficulties being faced by around 7,000 Indians, most of whom are living in camps after losing their jobs due to economic slowdown in the oil-rich Gulf country.

The Saudi government also agreed to allow transfer of Indian employees, who have lost their jobs, to any other company within Saudi Arabia.

Singh arrived here today to assess the situation and finalise modalities to bring back the stranded Indian workers who even do not have money to buy food.

As per reports, the Labour Minister issued orders to allow the Indian workers to immediately transfer their sponsorship (kafala) and renew their residencies. Under the kafala system, which is applicable to foreign workers, employees are not allowed to move to a new job without approval of their bosses.

"We discussed all the issues related to Indian workers. It was brought out that the problem is because of one company which has not provided the humanitarian facilities as per the law of the land.

"The government of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken serious note of this lapse and have taken immediate action to ensure that all camps where Indian workers were staying are provided facilities like medical, food, hygiene and sanitation," Singh said, describing his meeting with Haqbani as "very good".

Satisfied over Haqbani's response, Singh said he was thankful to the Saudi government for "very positive action and maganimous attitude".

Singh said Saudi government is also providing free passage to all those who want to go back to India and that they will also honour the claims filed by workers against the companies which have defaulted their payments.

"They have also agreed to allow transfer (of employees) to any other company within Saudi Arabia. Necessary action is in hand by the embassy of India to prepare suitable lists for filing claims as well as for people to go back. I am thankful to the Saudi government for very positive action and magnanimous attitude exhibited," Singh said.

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Comments

Maruthi veethika
 - 
Thursday, 4 Aug 2016

HATS OFF SAUDI ARABIA for its initiatives for INDIAN Expats

Suleman Beary
 - 
Wednesday, 3 Aug 2016

Why Saudi Govt. is not taking action against that one company because that belongs to Son of Late Rafiq Hariri of Lebanon.

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Media Release
May 6,2020

Mangaluru, May 6: The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the government to consider erstwhile undivided Dakshina Kannada (now DK & Udupi) as one unit for the purpose of movement of people. KCCI president Isaac Vas has written a letter to Karnataka chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar in this regard. 

Mr Vas said: Even though the erstwhile Dakshina Kannada district was bifurcated in 1997 for administration purposes, the two districts are actually an urban agglomeration with most of the population residing in suburbs/towns. Office Staff, technical crew and labour of many industries reside in either district and commute daily for work within an efficient transport system.

The present restriction on Inter-district movement in view of the Lockdown is hindering the kick starting of industries and commerce. Workers are deprived of their livelihood and Industry and business owners are finding it challenging to move forward. To add to this, the migrant labour is moving back to their native places further aggravating the situation. Many Industries and Commercial establishments have requested us to take up this matter with the government, he said.

“Hence, we kindly request you to consider these two districts as one geographical area for the movement of people and private vehicles,” he said adding that this would facilitate movement of people for employment and business in either districts of Dakshina Kannada & Udupi.

He pointed out that Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Urban, Ramanagara, Chikkaballapur and Kolar are considered as a single unit as per your order No. RD158/TNR 2020 dt 03/05/2020 (Clause 2(a)).

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 21,2020

Mangaluru, May 21: The coastal district of Dakshina Kannada today recorded six fresh covid-19 positive cases. With this the total cases reported in the district so far rose to 61.

It is learnt that all the six new covid-19 patients are those who had returned to Mangaluru from Dubai on May 18. 

Al the six patients are male. Among them two people aged 44 years and three others aged 35, 42, 60 are residents of Dakshina Kannada. Another one is 29-year-old from Kalaburagi. 

They were under institutional quarantine after their return. After their throat swab tests confirmed the disease, they were shifted to covid-19 hospital in the city.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 15: A 28-year-old man, who is a first-year MBBS dropout, was arrested by the police after he posed as a doctor and treated patients at a private hospital at Derlakatte on the outskirts of the city.

The arrested has been identified as Mohammed Habib Hussain, a native of Shivamogga, who was residing in Attavar, Mangaluru. He had discontinued studies after the first year due to personal reasons.

The incident took place on Sunday night  at Yenepoya Medical College, Derlakatte. Dr Sampathila Padmanabha, medical superintendent, Yenepoya Medical College, said the accused had come to the medical college at midnight on December 29.

After speaking to the security guard at the hospital entrance, he introduced himself as an assistant to the consulting urologist, and wanted to visit patients at the private ward situated at floor number 7.

After entering, he called the duty nurse to get case sheets. Later, he examined two women patients in the presence of the duty nurse, and also wrote a prescription on the patient case sheet. He also yelled at a nurse, saying that she isn’t doing her duty properly, and left the place.

However, the nurse who grew suspicious, informed the management, after the accused had left the place. The management, who crosschecked about the accused, found out that he is not a doctor, and that he is also not associated with the hospital.

The management sent an advisory to all employees to produce their identity cards, whenever they enter any wards, especially at night, and also to keep an eye on anyone suspicious. The same message was passed on to other hospitals in the vicinity.

The accused again showed up at the hospital on Sunday night. As security guards were told about strangers visiting the hospital in the guise of doctors, he was allowed to enter the hospital premises, so that he can be apprehended. He later went to the reception counter and queried about the consultant urologist. When he noticed that the staff had an idea about what was happening, he tried to flee from the spot. He was later caught by a security guard, and the police were informed. He was arrested by Ullal police station personnel.

Dr Padmanabha added that he used to roam around with his friend in a car. He was also involved in a similar incident at a private hospital in Kankanady, and the same has been informed to the police. He visited hospitals in a car, which has been seized by police.

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