At least 30 Jharkhand workers, who went to Oman for work, are stuck there as their VISAs have lapsed and they have no money to return home, said their kin.
Workers of the district of Bokaro, Giridih, Hazaribagh and Koderma had gone to Oman last year. They were hired by a contractor to work on a transmission line at Muscat in Oman in the year 2017 in a well-reputed company, said Sikander Ali a member of Pravasi Group trying to help the labourers.
“The workers trapped in Oman have sought help from the government through social media. They have sent a message to the Foreign Minister, Government of India and asked for help. The message also stated that the company in which they are working has stopped their payments. They were locked in a room and getting several threats,” he said.
Trapped labourers are Raju Paswan, Khublal Paswan, Vijay Kumar Mahato, Yogendra Kumar, Devi Lal Mahto, Santosh Mahato, Alam Kumar Mahato, Chandrika Mahato, Teklal Mahato, Mahesh Kumar Mahato, Rajesh Kumar, Sohan Lal Mahato, Pradeep Mahato, Hemlal Mahato, Nirmal Mahato, Sohan Mahato, Govind Mahato, Rajesh Prasad Mahato, Jagdish Mahato, Kasumbha Rooplal Mahato, Mahesh Mahato, Vinod Kumar, Ramchandra Mahato, Dilip Kumar, Premchand Mahato, Manoj Mahato, Hulas Mahato, Jagdish Mahato and Mahendra Singh, Ali said.
“I assured them to make every effort to return to them to their homeland,” he added.
Lured over handsome remuneration and work at a well-known company workers were sent to Oman but they were not given salary in lieu of work.
For the past seven months, they are not being paid even a single pie as they were promised, informed their family members over the phone.
According to the information received by the workers' families, all of them have been kept in locked rooms and they are being given only one-time food. They want to come back to their homeland, but apart from the expiry of the visa period, they are stuck there as they have no money to come back.