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India urges jobless nationals in Saudi Arabia to return home by Sept. 25

Xinhua, August 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

India has appealed to thousands of its nationals who are currently stranded in Saudi Arabia after being laid-off by various companies there, not to wait indefinitely for their dues and come back by the third week of next month.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Tuesday that India will make arrangements for their return journey only if they chose to return by Sept. 25, otherwise they would have to make their own arrangements for return journey.

"@Gen_VKSingh visited Saudi Arabia twice to resolve the problems of Indian workers rendered unemployed due to closure of companies there," Swaraj tweeted, referring to junior foreign minister's recent visit to Saudi Arabia to seek settlement of the unpaid dues for the nationals.

The row erupted last month when Swaraj had announced on Twitter that 10,000 Indian nationals were facing a "food crisis" in Saudi Arabia as they had not been paid salaries for several months.

The government amended the figure a few days later, saying that 3,172 workers were facing "distress."

The Saudi government has also offered to extend assistance to all Indian nationals stranded there without the mandatory "no-objection certificates" from employing firms that had folded up, but some are reluctant to leave without their pending wages. Endit