Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to get ten fishermen of Tamil Nadu stranded in Kuwait repatriated, after being detained in a "foisted" case by the police there.
"I request you to instruct the Embassy of India in Kuwait to take all necessary measures to ensure the immediate repatriation of these innocent Indian fishermen," she said in a letter to Narendra Modi.
She said 11 fishermen - ten from Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu and another from Kerala - went to Kuwait in July, last year to work as fishermen. They went there under the sponsorship of two persons, Hussain Rasheed and Mohamed Rasheed.
They were sent for fishing for about six months in the boats owned by the sponsors. However, the sponsors did not pay the fishermen their share from the fishing catch as per the terms of employment.
"Hence, the fishermen struggled to barely sustain themselves and were unable to send money to their dependent families back at home," she said.
As the 11 fishermen lost all hope of getting their remuneration from their employers, they requested for their return passage to India, which the sponsors refused.
"Subsequently, they were detained by the local police on a foisted case on a complaint by the sponsors and released after a month's detention," she said.
"It is reported that their passports are under the custody of the sponsors who are neither allowing them to work nor return to India."
She requested necessary steps to ensure that the fishermen got their just and due wages. "I request immediate action as their families and dependents in India are anxious about the safety of these fishermen and are also suffering without any means of livelihood."