NEW DELHI: The human rights group Amnesty International is demanding action against Qatar over the “dire” working conditions facing hundreds of Indian laborers in the country.
More than 600 Indian workers are employed on construction sites building football stadiums for the 2022 World Cup.
Recent reports suggest the workers have been denied salaries and are enduring poor living conditions.
Smriti Singh, advocacy manager for Amnesty International, India, told Arab News that the Indian workers are “stuck in Qatar.” “They don’t have money to return. The fact that the workers are not being compensated for the work they are doing is against the basic principles of workers’ rights and goes against the mandate of the International Labour Organization.” Singh called on the Indian government and international community “to pursue the matter which requires urgent attention.” The collapse of a Qatari firm, HKH General Contracting Co., which employed 1,200 workers on World Cup construction sites, has put the welfare of hundreds of workers at risk.
Patkuri Basanth Reddy, head of the Gulf Migrant Workers’ Welfare Association in the southern Indian state of Telangana, said that in the past two years more than 10,000 workers had returned to India because of the “pathetic” working conditions in Qatar.
Reddy worked in the Gulf and has been involved for many years in helping laborers facing difficult conditions in the region.
“I get regular phone calls from workers in Qatar, all asking me to rescue them from their bad situation,” he told Arab News.
“I now advise people not to go to Qatar. I know many cases where people have gone missing and there is no trace of them for years. The international community and the Indian government should pay serious attention to the condition of workers in Qatar.” Arab News spoke to a worker, Shravan, in the Nizamabad district of Telangana, who returned from Qatar recently after more than two years in the Gulf state.
The 35-year-old is still in shock and found it difficult to talk about his experiences. But his wife, Sangeetha, said that the company that hired him in Qatar promised him 35,000 Indian rupees ($510) per month “but never honored that promise.” “He lived a miserable life there,” she said. “For two years when he lived in Qatar he did not send a single penny to us. We are deep in debt now,” she said.
The Indian embassy in Qatar last year said that 3,154 Indian workers had died in Qatar between 2004 and 2017. More than 200 workers had died every year since 2007.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of the abuse of migrant workers on a visit to Qatar in 2016 and was reassured that labor reforms would improve their conditions.
Amnesty International in its report in May last year said that “migrant workers on World Cup construction sites continue to suffer abuse and exploitation, and companies involved in the renovation of Khalifa International Stadium subjected workers to systematic labor abuse.” Arab News contacted the Indian Foreign Ministry for comment, but there was no response.
