By IANS
Dubai : The Indian mission here is trying to repatriate 25 Indian workers from south India who are stranded after being duped by an agent with lucrative job offers in Iraq.
The Indians were stranded here on their way to Iraq via the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after the papers they were carrying were found to be fake.
The Indian government has imposed a ban on citizens travelling to Iraq but unscrupulous agents still manage to sneak in people from villages and small towns.
“We are trying to retrieve their passports from their agents,” said B.S. Mubarak, labour consul at the Indian consulate.
Valley of Love (VoL), a Dubai-based Indian NGO, first came to know about the plight of the Indian workers who belong to Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, the Gulf News reported.
“Arrangements have also been made to provide them with food and water by the Ajman Indian Association and the Indian Community Welfare Committee [ICWC],” Mubarak said.
“We have gathered information and contact numbers of the agents. Police have been very cooperative in dealing with this issue,” he added.
O.Y. Khan, general secretary of the Indian Association who spoke to the stranded men, said some Gulf-based companies want to provide the men with jobs. He said this would only be possible if the consulate is able to retrieve their passports from the agents.
The stranded workers told the newspaper that their agent switched off his mobile phones after the matter was taken up by the Indian consulate.
“After our plight was highlighted by the media, we were asked by our agent to abscond or else we would be put behind bars,” said Rajesham Basamapalli, one of the stranded workers.