Job Seekers Duped in Kuwait - Pour Their Hearts out in Mangalore
by Melka Miyar
for Daijiworld Media Network
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Mangalore, Apr 12: Exploitation of Mangalorean labourers in Gulf countries is nothing new. Thousands of such cases have been reported in the last few decades. Eagerness to improve the financial status in their homes has been attracting Mangaloreans towards Gulf. Many agents who provide employment in Gulf and the employers have always taken wrong advantage of this weakness of Mangaloreans by exploiting them in innumerable ways.
Here is a case of seven job aspirants who were exploited in Kuwait recently. They crossed the sea seeking greener pastures, but all their dreams were shattered to bits at the hands of an agent in the deserts of Kuwait. Their long and intense battle led by Kuwait resident Pascal Pinto bore fruit finally and they landed back on their native soil. But nothing in the world can compensate the sufferings of those seven victims.
It was Peter Alwyn D’Souza, Urban D’Souza, Valerian D’Souza, Pradeep Alake, Sandeep Ganiga, Ashok Gopu Poojary and Pascal Rocky D’Souza who were at the recieving end of the agent's treacherous plans. They were subsequently banned from entering Kuwait for five years. Moreover, they lost money, precious time and dignity.
Nightmare Begins
To start from the beginning, all of them paid an average of Rs 1.1 lac to a certain Stephen Pereira, owner of Look Jobs in Derebail who assured them of providing jobs in Kuwait through another agent Jaffer Sadik Hussain, native of Honnavar and resident of Kuwait. But Stephen Pereira had no idea of the cunningness of Jaffer. As a result, all the seven job aspirants along with Stephen Pereira had to undergo untold sufferings.
Stephen Pereira sent the seven people to Kuwait on visiting visa September 23, 2007 on the assurance that Jaffer would be looking after all the job-related formalities. However, on reaching Kuwait, they could not find Jaffer at the airport till evening and moreover they had only photocopies of their visas. Suspicious airport authorities interrogated them thoroughly and sent them back immediately. They had to come back to India within a day.
They contacted Stephen Pereira again and he assured them things will go on smoothly the next time and sent them to Kuwait again on November 1. Jaffer came to the airport to escort them this time and arranged a room for them. Meanwhile, they handed over their passports and visas to Jaffer, a mistake which landed them in deep trouble and left them stranded on an unknown land. Jaffer absconded with the visas, never to return.
Their life became a living hell and they spent week after week waiting for Jaffer, all in vain. Having come to seek jobs, they had not carried much money with them. They spent almost two months like fugitives and with neither work nor money. On the other hand their passports and visiting visas were with Jaffer.
Ray of Hope
It was Pascal Pinto, a community leader and social worker who came to their rescue and proved a saviour of their lives. Some of the relatives of the victims contacted Pascal Pinto and explained the pathetic state of affairs. Pinto swung into action immediately and met the seven victims on December 28, 2007. It was a day they would never forget, a day that marked the beginning of their rescue from hell.
Soon after the meeting, Pascal Pinto related the matter to the secretary of the Indian embassy in Kuwait. A search was immediately conducted for tracing Jaffer as well as the passports. He was soon caught and on interrogation admitted his guilt. He promised to pay back the entire sum he had recieved from the seven people but to this day he has not paid back the full amount.
However, the victims' bad luck did not end there. Jaffer lost the passport of Gopu Poojary and sadly Poojary had to stay back in Kuwait for some more time while the other six landed on Indian soil on January 16, thanks to the financial support by Tulukoota, Kuwait. With eyes full of emotion, they expressed special gratitude to Pascal Pinto without whose help their dreams of returning home could not have seen the light of day.
Nevertheless, Gopu Poojary had to wait for a few days more and was forced to miss his sister’s marriage which was held on February 28. Finally he reached home on March 12 to a rousing welcome and a tearful but also a much-relieved family.
Back to Old Life
Now all of them are back in their homeland and settled in their work. But the scar formed in their minds and lives runs too deep and cannot be easily erased. Pascal Pinto was a godsend without whose timely intervention their lives would have worsened to unimaginable extents, they say.
Stephen Pereira says that he had to pay a huge penalty because of the mistake he did in not finding out the authenticity of Jaffer. He suffered a huge loss in the bargain which has taught him a valuable lesson of not trusting any person blindly.
It may be easy to shrug one's shoulder saying such incidents are common nowadays, but it takes a lot of courage to come forward to help victims of those cases. It is sad that gullible people are falling prey to the lure of agents time and again; we need many more people like Pascal who do not rest until justice is done.
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