:dateline:As many as 10 Punjabi boys, who were sent as drivers to an Arabian company by various travel agents of Punjab in November, are living �in hell� in Riyadh. Out of the 22 boys sent to Riyadh from Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Nawanshahr districts, 12 returned in the�past one and a half�months but others are still languishing there.
Youths who returned recently addressed mediapersons at the local Press Club today. They sought the Centre’s intervention in bringing the stranded youths back. They said their friends were on the �verge of starvation�. Narrating their woes, they said the international driving licenses provided to them by the travel agent had been declared fake by transportation department officials there and were torn. They can�t go anywhere as their passports were with the company and their ID cards had also been taken back, so they are now confined to the camp area they are residing in as they can�t even board a taxi or use any public transport facility without IDs, they said. Besides these youths, there are two other youths there, who are in jail under the charge of theft, they said.
Gurdev Singh, who returned from Riyadh two days ago, said, “We were cheated. The agents took money from us to send us as drivers but they handed us over to a company, Twak Baldia, which is a garbage collection company. We were forced to lift garbage instead of driving.”
Jagmit Singh, who returned last month, said, “The stranded youths’ passports are with the company. They are held captive�in a camp. All 10 of them have to live in one room. There is no proper power supply. Other civic facilities are also missing. They are being harassed by company officials.”
Himmat Singh said, “Nothing is being paid to them. They have been sustaining themselves with the help of old Punjabi employees and drivers there. Some of them have also been sent money by their parents here.”
Arjun Singh said the company’s officials had held their passports and said that if they wanted to return, they should pay 8000 riyal to the company. They claimed that they had paid for the boys so they would have to work as per their wishes for three years even if they don’t get paid. They claimed that an agreement in this regard had been signed through the agents.
“Two boys have been jailed under false charge of theft and others are afraid that they, too, might be implicated falsely. We request the Government of India to take up the matter with the Saudi government so as to ensure their early return. We also demand a strict action against the agents, who�sent us to that hell.”
List of stranded youth
Kuldip Singh of Tirangowal village, Jagdeep Singh of Akalgadda village, Sharanjit Singh, Mangal Singh and Harpreet Singh of Tangra village (all from Amritsar district); Kulvinder Singh of Kalawada village in Gurdaspur district; Zorawar Singh of Balachaur in Nawanshahr district; Gurlabh Singh of Fateh Garh Choodian, Sucha Singh of Jindwadi village and Ram Kumar of Nangal town in Ropar district; are still stranded in Saudi Arabia.
