Food crunch for Indian workers in Saudi Arabia: Indian minister sent to Jeddah
In an unprecedented crisis, around 10,000 Indian workers, most of whom worked with Saudi construction companies, are stranded in Saudi Arabia without food and money, with the Indian government working overtime to alleviate their suffering. Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (retd) V.K. Singh is set to leave for Jeddah tonight (August 2) to make an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.
The pitiable plight of hungry and penniless Indian workers in Saudi Arabia has come as a shock to the Modi government, which has made diaspora outreach and welfare a key plank of its foreign policy. The food crisis afflicting Indian workers in Saudi Arabia has erupted barely four months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Saudi Arabia and was assured by the top Saudi leadership about the welfare of the Indian community, including migrant workers, in the Arab world’s largest economy. Mr Modi interacted with the Indian workers as well as the well-heeled Indian community in two separate outreach events in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is home to around 3 million Indians, the largest expatriate population in the Gulf powerhouse.