Housemaid harassment dips after Indian embassy intervention

Dubai, May 4 (UNI) Harassment of Indian housemaids in Qatar has come down significantly after the Indian embassy intervened to legalise the recruitment process, a senior official of the Indian embassy has said.

Despite an earlier ban by the Indian Government on recruiting housemaids, a number of them were brought to Qatar through illegal channels.

This has now virtually stopped and the living conditions of the maids have improved after the mission has intervened to legalise the recruitment process and hiked minimum salary requirements.

Ramesh Chandra, the outgoing second secretary at the Indian embassy, told The Peninsula newspaper yesterday that there were only one or two complaints now from housemaids in a week and most of them were from those recruited illegally.

He said the mission had attested employment contracts for about 5,000 Indian housemaids over the past 10 months.

''We are getting 20 to 25 requests for attestation almost every day,'' he added.

The Indian Government had revised the minimum salaries for Indian housemaids from 600 qatari riyals (7,410 rupees) to 900 qatari riyals (11,000 rupees) and set certain recruitment regulations.

The maids would also be provided compulsory insurance under the Pravasi Bharatiya Insurance Suraksha Scheme.

UNI XC SC PM1607