Daijiworld Media Network - Kuwait (SP)

Kuwait, Jan 11: As many as 2,084 Indian employees of Kharafi National Company in Kuwait have been facing a major crisis as they have not received their salaries since a year. These employees have now resorted to fast unto death in support of their demands. These employees are going through hell, and to make the matters worse, they have also been driven out of the company residential quarters provided to them.

In view of the seriousness of the issue, minister of state for external affairs, Gen V K Singh, would be flying to Kuwait on Thursday January 11 to hold discussions with the government there.

Indians going to Gulf countries lured by lucrative jobs are frequently facing problems there of late. Because of internal issues in Saudi Arabia, many Indians who were working there, have lost their jobs. It is the turn of Kuwait now.

 Gen V K Singh

Kharafi National Company, it is learnt, has not paid salaries to about 30,000 employees including 2,084 Indians, belonging to different nationalities since the last about a year. As per an estimate, over 300 of them are from Karnataka, with over a hundred from coastal Karnataka. A number of employees have tendered their resignations to the jobs. When the company was requested for visas to return home, the company, it is gathered, has not responded positively. As a result, the employees are not able to return to their homes. At the same time, they are not being paid anything for sustenance. With no roof over their heads, no option to return home and no money, these employees had no other choice but to launch fast unto death since Wednesday inside the company.

Kharafi National, which once used to be a hugely respected company, belongs to a former speaker of Kuwait and a job in that company was very much sought after. But this once highly valuable company has turned into a nightmare for the employees.

The employees are just told by the company that they do not have money. Often they also are given the vague promise of paying their dues. No one is sure why the company is dithering in the matter of paying its employees. The employees believe that their salaries are withheld because of the fact that the company is incurring losses.

Minister, Gen V K Singh, and external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, had visited Kuwait in the past and held talks with the government there. But that visit did not have any positive outcome. In view of the piteous condition of Indian employees stuck there, Gen Singh would be visiting that country again along with Kuwaiti ambassador on January 11. The Indian employees of the company now see a faint ray of hope about their problems getting resolved.