Around 710 out of 3,600 unpaid Indian workers, who left Kuwait between November 2017 and April 2018 after being stranded there for months, will receive a compensation of KD 250 (around Rs 56,000), a senior Indian embassy official said.
Working for Kharafi National Company, a construction company in Kuwait, the workers left the country after the company ran into financial trouble.
Nearly 3,600 Indian workers, a majority of whom are from south India, were stranded for 18 months in Kuwait. Workers were struggling for daily food and water, too.
Following complaints, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs had sent its junior ministers to rescue the workers, in 2017.
“The 710 Indian workers, who left Kuwait between November 2017 and April 2018 after submitting an official complaint of non-payment of salary and end of service benefits, will be entitled to the amount,” the official said.
Incidentally, instead of disbursing the compensation amount to the District Collector, the Indian Embassy has decided to wire the money directly to the worker’s bank account.
The 710 workers will have to courier a Power of Attorney, which is available on the Indian Embassy Kuwait website, along with the bank details.
According to the official, the Indian embassy and Kuwait’s Public Authority of Manpower had received around 1,600 complaints from the stranded workers.
“Kuwait’s Public Authority of Manpower had verified the complaints and have now provided the compensation. The Indian embassy also provided the air tickets,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the Embassy has also said that the remaining Indian workers will also be considered for the compensation upon providing the necessary details to labour@indembkwt.org.
According to a highly placed source in Kuwait, an ownership dispute over Kharafi National Construction company, the largest construction company in Kuwait, had led to the partial closure of operations and consequently, migrant workers being stranded.