Dubai, Apr 29 (IANS): Around 60,000 Indian workers have registered in the Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate general in Jeddah in the wake of the new Saudi labour policy, according to India's Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.
These people have been rushing to take advantage of an amnesty scheme being offered by the country's ruler King Abdullah, the Saudi Gazette reported Monday.
The new policy, called Nitaqat, makes it mandatory for all Saudi companies to reserve 10 percent of jobs for Saudi nationals.
According to Ravi, who was attending an Indian community reception hosted by India's consul general Faiz Ahmed Kiwai at the Indian consulate in Jeddah Sunday evening, his ministry will meet the expenses for hiring temporary staff to overcome the crisis created by the huge turnout of Indian workers who want to go home.
“We are also interacting with the community leaders and will apprise the prime minister of India about the real situation arising out of the Nitaqat implementation and the ideal steps to be taken in this regard,” he was quoted as saying.
However, the report said that, in a press conference earlier in the day, the minister did not answer a question as to whether these workers will be provided with air tickets.
Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Hamid Ali Rao urged Indian workers to take advantage of the amnesty scheme and either rectify their status in the kingdom or return home.
India, Saudi Arabia to set up panel to address Indians' woes
India and Saudi Arabia will set up a joint committee to address the problems faced by Indian workers in that Gulf nation in the wake of its new labour policy.
The first meeting of the new panel will be held in Riyadh May 1 to discuss various means to solve the problems Indian workers would face under the new Nitaqat or Saudization policy, local media reported Monday.
The new policy makes it mandatory for all Saudi companies to reserve 10 percent of jobs for Saudi nationals.
The new committee will be headed by Saudi Deputy Minister for Labour Ahamed Al-Humaidan, and Deputy Chief of the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, Sibi George.
India's Minister for Overseas Affairs Vayalar Ravi had a meeting with Saudi Minister for Labour Adel Fakewih in Jeddah Sunday.
“The Indian side has conveyed its concerns to the Saudi officials, who have assured all possible support,” Ravi is quoted as saying at a press conference after the meeting.
“A joint working group, set up for expediting the labour agreement, will meet next month in New Delhi,” he added.
Ravi is leading a delegation on a goodwill mission comprising India's Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed and the advisor to the Indian Prime Minister, T.K.A. Nair, to Saudi Arabia.
Later, the delegation also met Saudi Minister for Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal and updated him about the outcome of the meeting.
The new Nitaqat policy has created panic among undocumented Indian workers who are flooding the Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah with requests for emergency certificates so that they can return home.
They are around 1.8 million expatriate Indians in Saudi Arabia, many of them working as blue collar workers.