This is yet another case of Indian expatriates being duped by visa agents and sponsors. Two youth from Dakshina Kannada district-Dhananjay of Vittal, Prashant of Beeri, Ullal- and two North Indians-Binod Kumar of Uttar Pradesh and Mohammad Siddiq of Bihar-had stranded in Nitaqat-hit kingdom for several months after believing the false promises of agents. Thanks to the helping hand rendered by Coastaldigest.com, all the four reached home safely.
“We experienced what is humanity and what is communal harmony in a foreign land. We are Hindus and those who helped us in our difficulties far away from our homeland were Muslims. We cannot forget their hospitality,” said Dhananjay and Prashant, after reaching Mangalore. They had landed in Saudi Arabia January 2013with colourful dreams.
Dhananjay, a mason, had paid Rs 40,000 while applying for an employment visa. “I was very happy to fly abroad. But after reaching there I realized that I was duped by the visa agent. Most of his promises were false” he said.
Prashant, a safety officer, recalling his trauma, said that he never expected that he will be employed for a meager salary in a remote place. “Though we were promised of SR 2000, at the end of the month we received only half amount. For three months we got only SR1000. When we approached the sponsor demanding full salary, he promised us to pay after sometimes. But unfortunately, by the end of May 2013, the sponsor went missing and then we realized that we were completely duped. All of our official documents including passport and visa were with the sponsor” he said.
“Both our pockets and stomachs were empty. We had no documents to step out our room do any work. We had no cell phone to contact our family members in India. In such a critical juncture we met a few expatriates from K C Road, Mangalore. Shabbeer, Nisar, Iqbal, Sajid and others provided us food and shelter when we had nothing to eat. They helped me to contact my sister Vinaya of Thokkottu over phone. They treated us as their own brothers though we belonged to different religion. But they too were helpless.”
“Finally, we managed to contact Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader, who represent our constituency as MLA. After hearing our case, Mr Khader asked us to contact Coastaldigest.com chairman Asif Amaco, who not only supported us financially but also helped to speed up paper works to facilitate our return,” said Mr Prashant.
“When a representative of Coastaldigest.com called us to Jeddah, which was several kilo metres away from our place, we were literally in a helpless condition as we neither had money to engage a taxi, nor any tax driver was ready to take us without permit card. When we conveyed our difficulties to Coastaldigest.com, they immediately arranged the money, and by paying extra money to a taxi we started our journey towards Jeddah in the night. We were provided accommodation in a restaurant for around 45 days,” Mr Prashant said thanking all those who helped him during his difficulties.
“We also had to pay a huge fee for an advocate to approach labour court and Consulate General of India in Jeddah at Jeddah and get the necessary documents. However, Consul (Labour), Prabhat K. Jain made us to wait for a month just for a sign. His unwanted questions hurt us a lot. Finally, the sponsor handed over our passports in the airport and we were allowed to board the flight,” he said.
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