‘1L workers with Gulf job permits grounded by war’

Mumbai: Khizar Farooqui, a truck driver from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, has secured a work visa from a Saudi Arabian company through a travel agency in Mumbai. Grounded by the West Asia war, which has stretched beyond a month now, he is worried that long-term unemployment will push his family into acute poverty."I have been in Mumbai for over 20 days. Despite the risks and friends' advice against travelling to Saudi in these conditions, I want to go, as I desperately need to work. But the air ticket prices have almost doubled from what they were a month ago. I don't know what to do," he said. Around 1 lakh-odd unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled Indian workers with secured job permits in the Gulf countries whose plans —and hopes—have been derailed by the war, according to Abdul Karim, president of Indian Personnel Exports Promotion Council, an association of registered recruitment agencies. "The war has virtually brought the process of recruitment to a standstill. Workers with visas are apprehensive and under pressure from families against flying out of the country. The situation will worsen if the war persists for a few more weeks," he warned. Karim said around 95 lakh Indian expatriates live and work in the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait). These expatriates working in sectors like construction, engineering, healthcare and hospitality collectively contribute around Rs 33 billion of the Rs 83-billion annual foreign remittances to India. "If these workers further pause their travel, it will aggravate the unemployment scenario in the country. These drivers, plumbers, pipe fitters and masons, who get between Rs 25,000 and Rs and Rs 30,000 monthly in the Gulf countries, will not find jobs for even Rs 10,000 monthly here. The war must end immediately," said businessman-educationist Nasir Jamal, who originally hails from UP, which sends out a large workforce (3-4 lakh) annually to West Asia. Ashhad Anwar Siddiqui of BKC-based Ashhad Travel Agency said there are 150 persons who have secured visas through his company but have postponed their travel, both because of pressure from the family and the hike in airfares. "The situation has been made more complicated by the requirement of a skill test, in addition to an interview by a delegation of the employers," he said.Wasib Peshimam of Al Samit International, a recruitment agency in Mahim, is saddled with a list of 150 workers who have secured visas. "We are hurtling towards a situation like the Covid-induced crisis. There has been no announcement of any compensation for this sector."