Hyderabad: All that glitters is not gold. Yes, that is right and also been proven over a time period with many Indian workers trapped in Middle east now seeking help from Indian Government to rescue them from the torment they are subjected to in these gulf countries.
Now the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia is trying to trace an Indian worker from Telangana whose video went viral where the helpless man is requesting the government to rescue him from the desert where he is being deprived of food and also beaten up the employer(kafil).
The man’s impassioned plea in the video has moved many hearts and now the TRS working president KT Rama Rao has urged Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and India’s ambassador to UAE Navdeep Suri to help the victim return to India.
An attempt has already been made by the embassy to contact Veeriah.
“We tried to speak to Veeariah on his number but there is no response,” the embassy said, asking for his passport copy, visa page and work permit ID (iqama).
Veeraiah’s video shot somewhere in the desert in Saudi Arabia shows many camels in the background.
“Only I have to take care of 100 camels throughout the day and night. I have to milk them too,” he said. Veeraiah said recently one camel died in the night. “The kafil (employer) beat me up badly because the camel died,” Veeraiah complains of abuse at hands of his Kafil.
In the video, Veeraiah has identified himself as a resident of Karimnagar’s Thummapuram mandal.
He said that he is stuck in Saudi Arabia and that he wanted to return to the country to perform the last rites of his mother who has recently died but that his Kafil is not allowing him to return.
“We are not provided food and I have been starving,” he says in the video.
According to sources, his family in Makthapalli village waited for two days for him to come to perform the last rites of his mother, who died on March 30.
Veeraiah had goen to Saudi Arabia by an agent in 2017 and since then there is no contact from the agent’s end.
The family said they have tried to contact the agent who had sent Veeraiah but that he no longer responds.
Meanwhile, Patkuri Basanth Reddy, president of Gulf Telangana Welfare and Cultural Association, said some members of the Telugu community in Saudi are trying to trace Veeraiah.
“A worker from Telangana working in Saudi Arabia called up the kafil who demanded to know his credentials and why he called. He, however, refused to divulge any information about Veeraiah,” he said.