300 stranded Indian workers to return home

At least 300 Indians left stranded in Saudi Arabia after being duped by their recruitment agencies in India are about to return home following the intervention of Indian authorities in the matter.

Around 150 of them are from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and they have paid Rs 1 lakh to the recruitment agencies in India for their job and travel expenses.

Few of the workers went to work at some places but the majority of them refused and approached the embassy to come back home.

"Workers were recruited in bulk from different places in India and contracted to join ongoing airport development work in Riyadh, which eventually did not work and were directed to do odd jobs for various other companies in different parts of the country," an embassy official was quoted by the Arab news.

"The contracted company here wanted to outsource the workers to other companies and send them for work in various parts of the Kingdom," the official was quoted as saying.

The embassy approached the company to find a solution and after pursuing the matter they agreed to repatriate them soon with the return tickets.

 Representatives of some social service organisations assisting the stranded workers said that the local job agents who recruited them in India cheated the workers, which led to their sufferings.