Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday wrote to Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asking the Centre to intervene to help Malayalis stranded in Riyadh return home.

These workers from Kerala had been flown in from Dubai by Saudi King Abdullah himself to work on the Economic City Project in Riyadh.

However, they have not received their salaries for over a year and complaints filed in this regard with the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia are yet to yield any results, says the letter.

Their Ikaama (residence-permits) too have not been renewed since August this year, thereby stranding them at the labour camp, where living conditions are horrible with poorly ventilated rooms and insufficient food and water, says the letter.

The parent company that hired these workers has also apparently refused to pay the rent, and hence these workers are also under threat of forced evacuation from the labour-camp, it adds.

In the light of these dire circumstances, the Kerala Chief Minister has asked for the Centre’s emergency intervention in the matter so that these stranded workers can return to Kerala at the earliest.