6 lakh Indians in Qatar safe, no need to evacuate: MoS V K Singh

Last month, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar.

There has been no adverse effect on Indians living in Qatar, V K Singh, Union Minister of State for External Affairs said in a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

There are nearly six lakh Indians working and staying in Qatar and there is no need to evacuate them as the situation there is normal, the government today said, amid the boycott imposed by four Middle East nations on the country.

In response to another question, Singh said there has been a decline in the number of Indian workers emigrating to the Gulf countries for employment, attributing it to economic slowdown in those nations.

He said 7.75 lakh Indian workers emigrated to the Gulf nations in 2014, followed by 7.58 lakh in 2015. However, the figure dropped drastically to 5.07 lakh in 2016.

Last month, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar.
Among other terms, they have demanded that Qatar cut ties with Iran.

PTI