Hassan Cheruppa Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Sources at the Indian Embassy and Consulate General allayed fears about a reported imminent exodus of expatriates because of Nitaqat implementation as Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamad met Prince Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, in Dushanbe and conveyed the anxiety and concerns of India on the issue. Prince Abdulaziz, who is in the capital of Tajikistan to attend the Asian Development Dialogue conference, said he will bring the matter to the notice of the Labor Ministry, according to the Press Trust of India. The Indian Embassy has also taken up the matter with the Saudi government, the Indian minister said, adding, “There is no panic situation as of now. The Indian government will pursue the matter in the best possible way.” The sources at the Indian Embassy told Saudi Gazette that there was no cause for alarm and the media hype about such an exodus was baseless. Their comments came amid growing panic among tens of thousands of families and relatives back home about a mass exodus of Indian workers stirred by a hype created by both the print and electronic media in Kerala from where over 800,000 people are working in the Kingdom. A number of Indian federal ministers and Kerala leaders, including chief minister and leader of the opposition, jumped to react to the news. This aggravated the anxiety of the expat families. Prabhat K. Jain, Consul (Labor) at Jeddah Consulate General, said that there is no cause for panic. “We did not receive any information from the Saudi government about any new punitive measures. It is true that the authorities have stepped up checks to catch illegal residents,” he said. “Nitaqat is part of an extended Saudization drive. There is nothing new except what the authorities have announced earlier about the program,” he said. Sibi George, deputy chief of mission at the Embassy, said: “We will contact the Saudi authorities in order to ensure that the restrictions in the employment sector would not adversely affect the nearly two million Indians living in the Kingdom,” he said. K.P. Muhammad Kutty, chairman of the Kerala state-owned Overseas Development & Employment Promotion Consultants (Odepc), told Saudi Gazette that the new Saudization drive would not affect the overwhelming majority of expatriates who are legal residents in the Kingdom. “However, there are some concerns about those working at grocery stores (baqala), restaurants and boofiyas, as well as in the case of those working at firms that are under red category,” he said. Kutty, who is also president of the Saudi national committee of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Center, also hoped that the provision in the Nitaqat to change sponsorship is a relief for many expatriates. Another prominent community leader V.K.A. Rauf, patron of Navodaya Cultural Forum, said Keralites will be the most affected among some 200,000 Indians who are working at red firms. “Most of those working in small groceries and boofiyas are Keralites, and the new regulation to implement Saudization in firms with less than 10 workers would affect them adversely,” he said while blaming the Indian government and Kerala state government for their inaction to take adequate steps beforehand. He also pointed out that there were no appropriations for the rehabilitation of the Gulf returnees in the Indian and Kerala general budgets. K.T.A Muneer, member of the national working committee of Overseas Indian Cultural Congress, said that nearly 90 percent of Indians are not facing any problem under Nitaqat. He said that there is no question of a mass exodus and the number of Indians coming on new visas may be higher than those going back on final exit,” he said, adding that it is possible to change sponsorship from red to green within 24 hours and the procedures for changing profession is also much easier under the new system. “ P.P. Raheem, general convenor of the Jeddah Keralite Forum, said leaders in India hurried to react to the issue without realizing the real situation. “The ministers have neither taken the matter seriously nor made any efforts to study the issue properly,” he said.
