& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

No Salary for 765 Bangladeshis

Non-payment issue embarrasses Kuwait

Porimol Palma
Kuwait's Labour Relations Department said it was embarrassed over the non-payment of six months’ salary to 765 Bangladeshi workers by their employers.
The department also assured Bangladesh Embassy of finding a solution to the issue soon.
Meanwhile, since the employers did not arrange renewal of residency permits for the unpaid workers, they, over 300 being women, have been practically living in captivity in camps provided by their employers in fear of being picked up by police.
"The director of Labour Relations Department said that they were embarrassed over the issue," said Shahriar Kader Siddiqui, labour councillor at the Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait, during a telephone conversation with The Daily Star yesterday.
"Newspapers in Kuwait have
been running reports on the matter every day, creating pressure on the authorities," Siddiqui added.
On June 30, officials of the Bangladesh Embassy and the Labour Relations Department of Kuwait held a meeting to discuss the issue, he went on to say that the two janitorial firms -- Nibras Services and Top Services -- were scheduled to discuss the issue with Kuwait's Ministry of Social Welfare and Labouryesterday.
Siddiqui said following the expiration of their work contracts for particular projects with the government of Kuwait a few months ago, the two firms made their workers work for different projects, but failed to make any payment to the workers.
As the workers filed a complaint with the labour court, the court ordered the two firms to repatriate the workers to their home countries. The court also imposed large amounts of fines on the firms for employing the workers without valid residency permits.
Both the firms, belonging to the same owner, sought extension of time as well as waiver of the fines. In the meantime, the firms filed false cases against the workers, claiming that since the workers fled their workplaces, they were themselves responsible for the expiration of their residency permits, Siddiqui said.
Waiver of fines has to be approved by finance ministry of the country after the appeal is scrutinised by ministries of social affairs and labour, and interior, he added.
"Therefore, the process is timeconsuming." he said adding that the companies however are doing all they can to get away without paying the fines and the unpaid wages to the workers.
Meanwhile, the police already apprehended 30 of these workers who left their camps and the authorities are making preparations to deport them, said Siddiqui.
The police need to have a court order to arrest any worker from inside their camps for staying in the country without valid residency permits, explained the labour councillor at the Bangladesh embassy.
KUWAIT PROBES MPs'VISA TRADING
The National Assembly Human Rights Committee of Kuwait, which began an investigation into allegations of wide-spread visa trading, said they are suspicions about former and current Kuwaiti lawmakers' involvement in illegal trade of visas.
Visa trading means buying and selling visas to hire foreign workers and that involves huge amount of money and middlemen. Such trading increases the foreign workers' cost of migration and contrib-utes to their low wages. Bangladeshi workers are also victims of such trading in the Middle East countries.
Member of the committee MP Roudhan Al-Roudhan said the committee decided to investigate the issue seriously after "hearing that some members in the current assembly and previous assemblies are suspected of being involved in visa trading", reported Kuwait Times, a leading newspaper of Kuwait, Monday.
The Kuwaiti National Assembly last week asked the committee to investigate the issue based on a proposal that requires the panel to investigate records of the ministry of social affairs and labour during the last five years.
The Human Rights Committee of the National Assembly Monday held an extended meeting with representatives for the ministries of social affairs and labour, interior, and commerce and industry in this regard.
Roudhan said the committee asked the ministries to provide certain data based on which the panel will make decisions to reduce problems related to unskilled labourers.
The panel specifically requested data on companies suspected of visa trading, especially cleaning and private security firms, which recruit a large number of foreign workers, Roudhan said.