A video of 35 men from Karnataka’s Mangaluru, appealing to politicians and the media to rescue them from Kuwait went viral on Friday. In a message, the youth said that around 200 men had been cheated by an employment agency by promising them lucrative jobs in Kuwait out of which 35 of them were from Mangaluru.
“Prasad Shetty of Manikya Associates (employment agency) took Rs 65,000 from each of us and sent us to Kuwait to work for a company named Carriage. When we reached Kuwait, we were given jobs in a different company. We have been here for six months and have not received our salaries,” the youth alleged in the video.
The men said that they were scraping by and did not have enough money for food or water. They pleaded the media and politicians to help them as they did not have money to come back to India.
@SushmaSwaraj Honorable Sushmaji,
— JavanerBedra (@JavanerB) May 24, 2019
We received this video in Whatsapp. Summary of their plea is: “We are about 35 people from Mangalore - Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Andhra landed up in Kuwait through Manikya Associates Mangalore (Mr. Prasad Shetty) paying Rs. 65,000 each. pic.twitter.com/p650lmORkD
"Our families are in very bad financial condition. We do not have money and we are helpless here. The company was providing us two meals a day but now they have stopped that too. We are requesting the media and all political leaders of Mangaluru to help us. There are 200 Indians here, out of whom 35 are from Mangaluru," they said.
The youth alleged that Prasad Shetty had allegedly taken Rs 65,000 from each of them and is currently threatening to implicate them falsely in criminal cases and send them to prison in Kuwait.
"He (Prasad Shetty) recruited 200 Indians saying we would be working for a company called Carriage but after landing in Kuwait, we realised that Carriage had contracted the recruitment for another company named Enseem, which is blacklisted in Kuwait,” they alleged.
The men alleged that upon arriving in Kuwait, a few of them received 20 to 40 Kuwaiti Dinars after multiple requests for a few days and later their employer stopped paying them salaries. They also alleged that the Indian embassy had advised them to escape from the clutches of those running Enseem so they could be deported if the Kuwati police learnt about the incident.
The youths appealed to Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath in the video and requested him to step in and help.
“I have seen the video of the youth, who are stranded in Kuwait and are now suffering without money or food. I am looking into the matter and doing my best to bring them back home safely,” he said.
He also stated that he had contacted his friends in Kuwait and asked them to supply food and water to the men immediately. "Copies of their passports have been shared with MEA officials and we have requested them to assist us in the matter,” he added.
BJP MP from Bengaluru North DV Sadananda Gowda on Saturday said that he has requested the External Affairs Ministry officials to help bring back the men stranded in Kuwait.
“I have urged MEA to bring them back home safely. I have also informed Mangaluru MLA Vedavyas Kamath regarding the developments,” Sadananda Gowda said.
ಕುವೈತ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಲುಕಿದ ಭಾರತೀಯರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿದೇಶಾಂಗ ಸಚಿವಾಲಯದ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಮಾತುಕತೆ ನಡೆಸಲಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಸಮಸ್ಯೆಯನ್ನು ಬಗೆಹರಿಸುವ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಕ್ರಮವನ್ನು ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಈ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಂಗಳೂರು ಶಾಸಕ ವೇದವ್ಯಾಸ ಕಾಮತ್ ಅವರಿಗೂ ತಿಳಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. @vedavyasbjp
— Sadananda Gowda (@DVSBJP) May 25, 2019