By G Saravanan
Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on November 26, 2010:
CHENNAI: The second batch of 27 labourers, most of them from Sivaganga, Ramnad and Cuddalore districts, who faced hardships in Libya following the desertion of their overseas job agent, landed in the city on Thursday.
The first batch of 22 labourers had returned three weeks ago.The 27 labourers were working in difficult conditions at a construction site in Shamno, several kilometer away from Libyan capital Tripoli.
Immediately after landing in the city, they knocked the doors of Chennai Police Commissionerate to handover a memorandum against the city-based overseas manpower agent for not keeping his promise of better working environment and decent salary to all labourers in Libya.
In the evening, they also visited the office of the manpower agent at Ramapuram, who refused to entertain them.
Ramar, one of the labourers hailing from Ramanathapuram district, told Express, “We (27 labourers) were living in an inhuman condition at the construction site for the past few months. We left the Tripoli airport on Monday and reached Chennai via Mumbai.”
“The agent who sent us to Libya failed to fulfil the minimum obligation on salary and working conditions there. Hence, we registered our protest with the Indian High Commission in Tripoli and only after their intervention, our agent agreed to foot the flight charges for our return,” said Danasekar, another labourer from Cuddalore district.
Another 40 labourers from TN are still stuck in the camp, but they are expected to return in the next couple of weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment