Woes Of Those Rescued From Iraq Far From Over

78 landed in Hyderabad, from among the 183 Indians who arrived to India by a special Air India flight from Erbil, capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The flight reached Hyderabad via Kochi, where 46 nurses from Kerala disembarked. The flight initially landed in Mumbai where no one got down. An official of Telangana government said 52 are from the state were among those who returned Saturday. 40 of them belonged to Karimnagar district, nine to Adilabad district, two to Medak and one to Nizamabad district. Around 26 from AP also got down at the Hyderabad airport.

There were emotional scenes at the airport as the workers re-united with their families. They complained of ill-treatment by the employers and many of them said they were not paid salaries for three months.

The commissioner, I & PR, said government officials received the workers at the airport and have arranged transport for them to their home places. But the government’s job is far from over, going by the woes the Iraq-returnees expressed after they landed in Hyderabad. While most of whom had taken massive loans for jobs in Iraq, they were hardly paid well in Iraq and even those low salaries have been withheld for last 3 months. The government may have to address those issues sooner or later. According to their account, there are 100 more in Kirkuk’s Karwanchi factory, a beverages company, though it is immediately not known if they want to return home. Some workers earlier said they are not keen to return home despite the lawlessness in Iraq as they have financial compulsions to stay back.

Arelli Anjaiah from Karimnagar district in Telangana, who had gone to Iraq four months ago to work in a Karwanchi factory, said that he paid Rs 1.5 lakh to an agent for the job. “I was promised a salary of Rs 35,000 but we haven’t been paid for the past three months. I have returned empty-handed,” he said.

“There is no way I am going back to Iraq,” said Bodasu Rajesham, 43.” They (employers) seized our passports and forced us to work for long hours. They are yet to give us salaries of two months,” he said. Rajesham was a farmer in his native Karimnagar district before he headed to Iraq.

Another worker said he was cheated by the agent, who had promised him job visa for Rs.150,000. On arrival in Iraq, he instead was given a visit visa and his passport was taken by the employer.

Most of these workers paid one-time placement fee of Rs 1.5 lakh to the agent, who promised them monthly salaries up to $400. On reaching Iraq, they were told they wont have work visas but just visitor visas. And their illegal status meant they can’t protest the low pay they were given. Fearing the burden of loans they have to pay if they return without earnings, the workers let themselves be exploited.

“We were under constant surveillance of the company security guards. They would beat us up if we refused to work beyond 12 hours, or if we fell ill. It was nothing but slavery,” Prasad said, identifying the agent as one D Mallesham. The factory was targeted by the ISIS men several times, the workers said.”We were moved to a camp near the factory when trouble started, and later shifted near the airport,” a worker, Shanker, said. “None of us had work permits, just visit visas. The phone networks were such that it was difficult to call home,” he said.

The workers said they often heard noises of firing close to their place of living. Luckily, none of them was injured. “Security guards used to hide with us to escape the firing,” said Narsayya, who also hails from Karimnagar. 

More than 600 workers from Telangana are stranded in Iraq and majority of them work are laborers in construction sector.

The workers reported that there were around 260 from Telangana stranded in the factory, located at Kirkuk. “We were stranded for 23 days and I don’t wish such trauma on my worst enemy. We kept hearing gun shots and bombs were going off everywhere,” said Karimnagar resident B Prasad, who went to Iraq 10 months ago.

The breakthrough arrived a couple of days ago, when Indian diplomats managed to contact them. “I thought I will die in Iraq. God bless all those who contributed in rescuing us,” said a worker, Narayan, who informed that the workers went several days without food.

Telangana and Kerala State Governments has been liaising with Central Govt. over the rescue of the workers and nurses trapped in Iraq for the last fortnight. They opened helplines and the Indian Govt. sent Suresh Reddy, an ex-ambassador to Iraq, as special envoy to Iraq to rescue those trapped there. The flight yesterday show the efforts fructified. But there are still workers trapped in Iraq and the job is far from over.