Bonded labourers rescued from Oman reach Chennai

The government brought back P Karupan of Ramanathapuram, A Murugan of Villupuram, M Perumal of Cuddalore, P Annadurai of Viruthachalam, T Kannan of Viruthachalam, A Murugaperumal of Thutukoodi, A Balakrishnan of Cuddalore, Chinnathambi Loganathan of Sivaganga, Kurupaiah Subramanian of Sivaganga, S Kaliyan of Villupuram and Subramanian Nagarajan Madurai.

All of them went to the gulf country last year through agents. They had promised the victims that they would get jobs in Oman with good pay. As hundreds of them showed interest in applying for the job, the group organised an interview in Madurai and shortlisted 11 of them. All of them were asked to pay Rs one lakh and they departed to Oman on September 2019.

Their jobs went well for the first few weeks after landing in Oman but the work hours gradually increased. They were working up to 20 hours a day, the labourers said. When they asked the company about the prolonged working hours, the workers were locked out of their rooms and asked to sleep on the road. Besides withholding their salaries, the company asked the labourers to pay Rs 2 lakh each when they demanded to be relieved from work.

The families of the victims filed petitions with the State government and the Central government. The governments, with the help of the Oman embassy, rescued all the 11 of them last week. They were issued emergency visas and passport to return. They reached Chennai airport at 6.45 am on Monday. Government officials welcomed them and arranged transport to their hometowns.