DOHA: More than 29 Nepali workers who arrived in Saudi Arabia a month and a half ago for employment have appealed for facilitation for home return citing they are cheated by the manpower company.

The Nepali nationals feeling stranded had been to Saudi Arabia via HR International Employment Service in Garidhara, Kathmandu. The manpower had assured them job placement in Nurah Musafir bin Hussein Al Faith, a manufacturing company and the milk factory.

“It has been almost two months since we came here. The company has not given us any work or money. In the interval of two months, the company has given us only 6/7 hundred riyals. That money is not enough,” Awadhesh Prasad Gupta, a victim, told Khabarhub.

He said that they all want to return home now.

Gupta, one of the victims, complained that the company sometimes sent AC to the supply company for loading and unloading. He said that he stayed in a labor camp for a long time and the company paid him only 100 Saudi riyals for food every 10-15 days.

The victims said that the Nepali Embassy in Riyadh refused to take initiation and merely urged them to seek support from the manpower company. Sadly for them, the manpower companies merely prolonged the case and promised to resolve the problem soon. Unfortunately, the ‘soon’ did not mean the next day.

“I contacted the manpower representative and the agent who sent me,” said another young man, Sunil Raj Soni, “They say they would look after the case by tomorrow. And then tomorrow never comes.”

They had paid Rs 170,000 to Rs 200,000 per person to the manpower companies and various agents. Soni remarked that when he demanded to be sent back, the manpower agent threatened to kill him deploying ‘killers’.

They have appealed to various human rights organizations including the Ministry of Labor, and the Department of Foreign Employment in Nepal to take action against the manpower and to facilitate their safe return home.

We’ll solve the problem: Manpower

However, Sudhir Kumar Khati, Marketing Director, HR International Employment Service, promised to solve all the problems in the next 10-15 days.

“If those who have gone to work complain about not getting a job, we will settle it,” he said.

He claimed that the Nepali youths have exaggerated the situation and added that there is no Nepali starving.

According to Khati, those who are working are told that they are getting 300 riyals every month and some are promised it by April 10. Not only that, the company has promised to give jobs to those who do not get jobs within a week.

He promised to arrange for the home return if they do not get the job as promised before.