16 Indian Workers Held “Captive” in a Libyan Factory
NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Sixteen Indian workers have said they were being held in “prison-like conditions” at the Libyan Cement Company’s Benghazi plant for the past four months, ever since they protested long work hours, erratic pay and the flouting of contractual agreement by their employer.
The workers are from various parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The workers said their travel from India via Dubai was facilitated by a Dubai-based “contractor” Abu Bakkar, a Libyan national.
Mithilesh Vishwakarma, 26, who is from Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, said he travelled from Lucknow to Dubai on September 16 last year. His trip from Dubai to Benghazi was facilitated by Mr Bakkar, who paid for his air ticket and made arrangements for procuring tourist visa for Libya. Mr Vishwakarma said his passport was taken away upon arrival in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, under the guise of “updating his visa status.” His passport has not been returned to him since. Passports of other workers too were taken away in a similar manner, Mr Vishwakarma added.
He said trouble began in the third month of his arrival, when he noticed a steep pay cut. He said he did not raise the issue as the other workers warned him of dire consequences. Soon wage payments turned erratic and work-hours, which were stipulated to be eight-and-a-half hours when he joined, began getting longer, so much so that it doubled about four months back, with employees being called past midnight to work unscheduled shifts.
A confrontation occurred in September when the Indian workers sought their unpaid wages and asked for reduced work hours. “The contractor flew down from Dubai when he heard this. He beat two of us black and blue, and forced us to work that day,” said Mr Vishwakarma. Since then, they have not been working and neither have they been paid. They say they have been cooped up in two rooms and have not left the factory premises since, as they fear they would be apprehended by local police for lack of legal identification documents.
The Libyan Cement Company has workers from across South Asia working at its Benghazi plant. Some of them have been helping their Indian counterparts since the protests began, by buying provisions and food.
Another worker Rajkumar Sahni, 31, also from Gorakhpur, will complete two years at the cement factory on December 21 this year. He has not seen his 17-month-old baby boy. Mr Sahni said his family members in Gorakhpur were aware of their situation and had made attempts to meet local officials. They had also petitioned the Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan, who is from Gorakhpur, and the Ministry of External Affairs through a local non-profit, Manav Seva Sansthan.
In his letter on November 14, Manav Seva Sansthan director Rajesh Mani said, “It is disheartening to note that these labourers have not received their wages for the past four months and are being denied basic necessities. Communication has become nearly impossible as their phones have been taken away, leading to distress among their families back home.”
While the MEA replied on November 18, saying their grievance “has been updated and sent to the concerned EoI [Embassy of India] for further necessary action”, there has not been any response from the Rural Development Ministry.
(Manas Dasgupta)
