Samuel Thomas (standing) narrating his and colleagues' plight at an Open House at the Indian embassy premises here yesterday. (ABDUL BASIT)

Salaries not paid for months, say Aggrieved indians

DOHA • Indian diplomats here were in for a shock as over a dozen of their lowly-paid compatriots revealed yesterday that they were literally on the verge of losing their mental balance since they were not paid salaries for months on end besides braving insult and ill-treatment from their employers.

The aggrieved workers, 15 in number, turned up at an Open House the Indian embassy held at its premises. It was presided over by the Indian ambassador, Dr George Joseph.

The workers are employed by a major contracting company. While two are from Rajasthan, the princely western province of India, the remaining 13 are from Kerala in the south.

Three of the workers alleged that they joined the company three years ago and are living and working in “horrible” conditions. They have had no work for the past 35 days and hence are sitting idle in their labour lodgings at the Industrial Area.

All in the group of 15 said they had not been paid salaries for the past five months and so are struggling to have two square meals a day. “We have no money and work. We are tired of braving starvation and insults. We beg you to send us back,” one of the workers, Samuel Thomas, said.

“It’s been three long years of torture and tension. We have not been sending any money home, so our families are suffering. All we want now is to go back home, no matter if we starve there,” he said.

The living conditions in the labour camp are horrible. Twelve workers are huddled in a small room. "The toilet is overflowing since so many of us share one. There are rodents in the kitchen," he stated.

The workers said that since they have not been paid for the past five months, they somehow managed to strike a deal with a small neighborhood store near their camp to buy food items on credit.

Taking advantage of the situation, the greedy shopkeeper sold a food item worth QR1 for QR2.5 . “We didn't object since we had no choice,” Thomas said.

“We kept on buying on credit but couldn't pay, so the shopkeeper stopped the facility. We don't what to do and where to go. We are helpless. We can't even beg as that would amount to compromising our self-respect,” said Thomas.

He said he is repenting having quit a good job in the Indian defence ministry. "The dream of a Gulf job and making petro-dollars has ruined my life and compromised the future of my family." He has a wife two children.

Thomas rued that at age 51 today, he would have got many promotions and would be a senior employee of the Indian defence ministry.

Thomas, from Alappuzha district in Kerala, said he had been trying in vain to get in touch with the parliamentarian from his area in his home state to seek his help to return home. "When I phoned, his secretary asked me to send my complaint in writing by post."

"You conduct a study of the labour camps in the Industrial Area and you would find that many workers are having psychological problems due to the horrible living and working condition," said Thomas, who is a steal fabricator by occupation.

"I am an educated man, but senior officials of our company treat me like a slave. I find it unbearable. Am I not a human being?," said Thomas.

Present at the Open House were H C Arora, first secretary at the Indian embassy, and Nilangshu Dey, head of a community welfare corpus (the Indian Community Benevolent Fund or ICBF). Arora and Dey told the workers that they should have come to the embassy for help earlier.

"We have enough food stock and have been providing to many of our distressed compatriots. You won't starve as long as the ICBF is there," said Dey.

He asked the workers to collect food supplies for a week. Arora said he would take up their matter with the company on Sunday when the embassy reopens after the weekly off.