India to evacuate stranded workers in Saudi Arabia

The government will launch a massive evacuation operation for Indians who lost jobs in Saudi Arabia, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told Parliament on Monday. The minister said the government will also try and ensure that their salary dues are cleared.

Making a statement in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Sushma said her ministry was working out the modalities with the Saudi government to  to get the stranded Indians, who are in dire financial condition, back home.

According to estimates, about 10,000 Indians have been affected by the economic downturn in Saudi Arabia and have been staying in camps.

Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh will visit Saudi Arabia to work out the logistics.

“Not a single Indian worker, who is unemployed will remain hungry. This is my assurance to the country through Parliament... We will bring all of them back



to India" Sushma told in the Parliament.

She said the Saudi government has agreed to allow India to evacuate its citizens without the mandatory No objection Certificate (NoC) from the employers. “Since their employers have fled, who will grant them NoC? We have asked the Saudi government to authorise us to evacuate Indians (who have lost their jobs),” Sushma said.

She said the government has also asked the Saudi Labour Office to pay the salaries of the workers through the dues owed by the Saudi government to their employers. Members in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha expressed concern over the fate of the stranded Indians. 

The minister said she was receiving hourly updates on their status. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan  and several Opposition MPs lauded Sushma’s efforts. “She has done everything, No one could have done so much work,” the Speaker said.