Ben Hubbard. Day laborers are facing more problems than lockdowns in India. Similarly, people of Indian, Pakistani, Nepali, Bangladeshi origin working in Gulf countries are also going through a very bad phase. The laborers working there have neither money nor enough food. They are also unable to return to their country due to travel ban.
According to the World Factbook of the Central Intelligence Agency, one-third of Saudi Arabia's total population are foreigners. This means that they are equal to half the population of Bahrain and Oman. Millions of people from countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal do petty jobs in factories in Gulf countries. Many companies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have refused to pay salaries by ordering foreign workers to sit at home.
Coronavirus most affected migrant
Saudi Arabia's health ministry reported on April 5 that more than half of the Covid-19 cases in their country were spread due to foreigners. More than 4 thousand people from abroad are infected with coronavirus. Even an Kuwait actress said on TV that foreigners should be thrown into the desert.
Saudi King King Salman has announced treatment for Covid 19 last month. Salman has said that the citizens of the country as well as foreigners will also be treated here. However, the government's $ 240 million relief package will only apply to citizens working in a private company.
The United Arab Emirates has issued a new regulation. Under this, companies have been given the freedom to send non-citizen employees on paid and unpaid leave if they wish. Under this new rule, companies can also deduct the allowance of non-citizen employees completely.
Workers working amidst fear of infection
The governments of the Gulf countries have given strict orders to shut down non-essential businesses and stay indoors. But many businesses like construction, oil and gas are running. Migrants work more in these sectors. Many laborers live in camps here. Their number is up to 10 in a camp.
According to Gulf researcher Heiba Jayadin, if the virus was found in the camp, it would spread like wildfire. The government has arranged $ 800 million to help employees in Qatar. However, employees say that such a policy does not apply.
A Kenyan oil worker who works in Qatar said that he travels to work in a bus packed with a crowd of 60 people. After complaining, the company reduced the passenger to 30. He still lives in a room with three other people, with only 6 bathrooms for 450 people. He gets food in the company, but the crowd sits in a hall and eats food. There is nothing like social distancing here, God is saving people.
Egypt's Mohammed Al Saeed, trapped with 7 people in a one-room apartment in Jeddah, says that no one came to see him after losing his job. I am not afraid of Corona, we will die of hunger, I fear it. The special thing is that in the Gulf countries there is a ban on forming unions and any kind of employee organizations.
Krause, who works in a restaurant in Saudi Arabia, says he has been asked to stop work along with 16 other employees. They were told that if they do not work, they will not get salary. The situation is that people are not even given their last salary. So far, the food allowance has not even reached them.
Islamuddi Iqbal of Pakistan, who works in Oman, said that he was trapped in a room with four more people for months. Iqbal said that the police is strict here, so we cannot even go out. We have also reduced food supply due to short supply. Home-grown meds also have no choice but to face domestic abuses.
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