Hassan Cheruppa
Saudi Gazette report
JEDDAH — Indian nationals represented the biggest expatriate community to benefit from the grace period announced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to allow illegal residents in the Kingdom to correct their status or leave the country without incurring penalties. About 1.4 million Indians have corrected their residency and legal status and 141,000 have left the Kingdom, taking advantage of the concessions since last April when the amnesty was first announced.
However, several Indian workers, especially those who have been declared "huroob" (runaway) by their sponsors, still remain stranded in the Kingdom for various reasons.
These people are caught between the devil and the deep sea after their sponsors reported them to the passport authorities as "huroob" cases without their knowledge. They said they have nowhere to go, as nobody was willing to give them jobs and accommodation.
Saudi Gazette met several such victims and heard their bitter experiences during the "open house" organized by the Consulate General of India in Jeddah on Saturday.
“We find no one who are ready to give us jobs or shelter. Our friends and relatives are afraid of penal action in case they protect us,” said one of the victims.
Abduraheem Karimpanakkal from Kerala came to the consulate with a broken hand.
Abduraheem, a house driver, said his sponsor was demanding from him SR80,000 for the damage caused to his vehicle in an accident.
Abduraheem said the vehicle he was driving overturned in an accident last November.
"I came to know only after the accident that the vehicle was not insured.
My sponsor, who is a doctor at King Fahd Hospital, did not give my salary for the last three months and he now refuses to give me final exit. The sponsor insists that he would give me exit only after paying the huge amount of SR80,000," said the hapless worker.
Abduraheem, who was discharged from King Fahd Hospital after treatment for injuries he sustained in the accident, said his fractured hand made his situation worse as he cannot do any job.
Alawuddin from Uttar Pradesh, Ubaid Chakkittaparambil from Kerala and 17 others approached the consulate with a complaint that they were picked up from the Shumaisy deportation center on Thursday night and left on the Makkah-Jeddah Expressway. “We boarded the bus with the assumption that we were being taken to the airport for deportation but we were ordered to get down on the highway and the bus driver drove away, saying goodbye to us,” one of them said.
Consul General Faiz Ahmed Kidwai assured them that he would take up the matter with the Saudi authorities.