A welfare fund meant for the Indian workers in the Gulf countries is in the advanced stage of finalisation, Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Most of the ground work for this has been completed and it is a waiting Cabinet approval, he said in response to a calling attention notice given by Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress and others.
The facilities given by Air-India for transporting dead bodies from the Gulf would be given by the Indian Airlines also, the minister said.
The government would seriously consider the proposal for appointing Malayalam-speaking staff in the Indian Missions in these countries, he said in response to demands made by members from Kerala.
The government is seriously monitoring complaints relating to harassment of Indian maids, the minister said. More than 10,000 maids were recruited through the embassies and there were hardly any complaints from them, he added.
Appreciating the services of Indian workers, mostly from Kerala, who earn considerable foreign exchange, the minister said their number was coming down as 80 per cent of project work was completed in these countries.
The government has taken several other steps to protect the interests of these workers, skilled and unskilled, he said.
Chennithala said the Indian workforce in the Gulf had come down from 416,000 in 1987 to 297,000 in 2000. While Saudi Arabia had almost stopped issuing labour visas, the United Arab Emirates had plans to change labour laws from next year and Oman had already reserved seven more departments for locals.
He suggested that the government be in close touch with Indian embassies, and the embassies should take care of the Indian workers. He said a consolidated fund should be created to take care of these workers.
UNI
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