Make efforts to release Indian workers in UAE: Labour Unions

New Delhi, Jul 8 (UNI) Leading labour unions today sought urgent intervention of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to get released as many as 3000 migrant Indian workers, who had been arrested by the UAE government on a charge of rioting.

While voicing alarm and protest over what they called inhuman treatment to the migrant workers, they urged Mr Mukherjee to intervene both at diplomatic and embassy level to ensure that they do not face threat of deportation made by the UAE government and their genuine concerns are addressed.

In a joint petition to the External Affairs Minister, the leaders of CITU, AITUC and HMS and others, quoting media reports, said the workers concerned were rounded up as a measure of tackling their collective protest over supply of poor quality of food to them in labour camps constituted by the employers where the workers are required to stay.

'' Workers were taken into the custody on Saturday, July 5 and are still under the custody,'' the labour union leaders pointed out.

They said,'' The Most agonising part of the event is that the Indian Ambassador at UAE lost no time in immediately echoing the UAE administration's allegation on so called rioting by the workers but has not uttered a single word about the complaints of the poor migrant workers which led to the protest.'' ''The Indian Ambassador has gone on record to say that the investigation may take some more time. No efforts have so far been made to get the workers released,'' they added.

UNI KSA KK RP UCS1930