7 Days

Dubai, June 22: At least 29 illegal workers who returned to India during the amnesty last year have committed suicide, an Indian minister has confirmed. Most of them ended their lives after failing to handle the pressure exerted by private money lenders demanding repayment of cash for their loans that originally paid for them to come to the UAE.

Mohammed Ali Shabbir, a minority welfare minister in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, said that thousands of workers returned with large debts.  “They borrowed huge sums of money - in excess of dhs10,000 to go to the UAE, but had to return back within months after the amnesty for illegal labourers was announced. They came back with huge debts and were not able to pay back the money lenders,” he said.

Shabbir said that the state government has announced a compensation package of nearly dhs10,000 for the families of the suicide victims. “We also formed a high level committee to look into these cases and prevent such kind of incidents taking place in the future,” he said. The Indian government, Shabbir said, is cracking down on bogus recruitment agents cheating workers by pretending they have work visas and jobs on arrival in the UAE.

“Because of the new measures, the numbers of people going to the UAE on visit visas has come down. Some of the agents involved in the trade were arrested a few months back and sent to jail,” he said. “There is also a rehabilitation package for the workers who returned during the amnesty. They are being provided jobs in the private sector and are being provided loans to set up their own businesses. We are expecting that our measures will yield positive results.

“There are plenty of jobs for the workers in the construction sector which is booming at the moment. Skilled labourers can earn at least dhs800 per month if they opted to stay in India and work,” he added. The UAE  declared an amnesty in June last year for the repatriation of illegal migrants and extended it until November 2.

According to figures from the Indian Consulate, 95,000 Indians left the country during the amnesty and 45,000 workers regularised their status.

Out of fear of being chased by money lenders, a number of Indian workers continued to stay illegally in the UAE.  One illegal worker who is based in Sharjah, recently told 7DAYS: “I owe more than dhs10,000 to the money-lenders. If I go back home, I won’t have any option except ending my life.”