Indian Workers Begging in Saudi Arabia

In a sad turn of events, 450 Indian workers working in Saudi Arabia were reportedly put in detention centres after they were found begging on the streets following the expiry of their work permits.

As reported by The Economic Times, most of these workers belong to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kashmir, Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab, and Maharashtra.

In certain videos that have gone viral following the development, workers are heard saying that they didn't commit any crime and that they resorted to begging in face of the hardships they were facing.

The report quoted a worker as bemoaning, "We have not committed any crime. We were forced to beg because of our situation as we lost our jobs. Now, we are languishing in the detention centres."

The workers also underscored the fact that unlike the workers from other nations, who were helped by their respective national authorities to get back home, the ones from India were stuck there.

"We have seen workers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka being helped by the authorities of their countries and sent back to their respective countries. However, we are stuck here," another worker was quoted as saying.

However, social worker and MBT leader Amjed Ullah Khan said that "those who did not have the 'aqama' (work permit) were later taken to the detention centres."