Hyderabad: Saudi Arabia tops the list of Indians dying working in the Gulf countries followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 7,980 and 4039 deaths respectively in these two nations during the past three years, according to the data released by the Ministry of External Affairs.
The ever-rising number of deaths have raised concern back home with the central government saying all possible help is being provided to arrest the situation.
Besides natural causes, the deaths of Indian nationals in the Gulf countries have been attributed to occupational and traffic accidents and suicides.
Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, making a statement on the issue recently in the lower house of the parliament, said people dying due to harsh working conditions mainly include cleaning staff and maid servants.
"In order to prevent workers' deaths in suicides and road accidents in Gulf countries, awareness campaigns are conducted by the Missions through labour camps,” he said. Help is being offered regarding difficulties faced by Indian workers which includes excessive working hours, lack of medical facilities and excessive exposure to heat and sunstroke, he added.
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Earlier in February last, the then Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj, also made almost the same statement saying: "In order to prevent workers' deaths such as suicides, road accidents in Gulf countries, awareness campaigns are conducted by the Missions/Posts through labour camps organised by Pravasi Bharatiya Seva Kendras (PBSK) in collaboration with the Indian Missions/Posts. Indian officials work proactively to alleviate and resolve the difficulties being faced by Indian workers such as excessive working hours, inadequacy of medical facilities, excessive exposure to heat and sun stroke etc. Anyone having any difficulty can approach Community Welfare Wing in getting his problems addressed promptly."
According to the government data, 1,568 Indians workers died in Oman, 1,825 in Kuwait, 848 in Qatar and Bahrain recorded 656 deaths of Indian workers during the past three years.
Gulf immigrant right activist P Basanth Reddy was quoted by media reports as saying: "The untimely death of most of them, aged between 30 and 40 years, happened because of excessive heat and sleeplessness due to work pressure. Family issues back home were another major reason for suicides."
Meanwhile, various reports have suggested that most of the Indians who shift to Gulf countries for better life, use visit visas for work, exposing them to legal troubles.
