DOHA: The Indian embassy has received 2,368 labour-related complaints from Indian workers since January, an embassy statement said yesterday, without providing details and nature of grievances.
The labour and community welfare section received 3,558 complaints in 2013 and 3,385 the previous year, the statement added.
It was issued following the monthly Open House held by the embassy yesterday to address urgent consular and labour-related problems of its nationals in Qatar.
The Open House was attended by Ambassador Sanjiv Arora, Indian Community Benevolent Forum (ICBF) President, Kareem Abdulla, and other officials of the embassy who met complainants and discussed their problems.
They assured them that the embassy would follow up their cases with Qatari authorities, the statement said.
The embassy registered deaths of 24 Indians in July and 16 in August, taking the toll in the Indian community to 177 this year.
Some 76 Indians were in the central prison and 170 at the deportation centre, the mission said.
An embassy team visited the facilities to enquire about their welfare. Following requests from Qatari authorities for travel documents for detainees at the deportation centre, the embassy issued 10 emergency certificates in July and 23 in August.
It also issued seven air tickets in July to Indians who could not afford travel expenses, to facilitate their deportation.
The embassy also paid for the repatriation of the remains of one Indian who died in Doha.
The ICBF continues to assist Indian workers through welfare measures such as providing air tickets, medical treatment and financial assistance. It provided 12 air tickets to Indians in July and August.
It is holding a medical camp for workers in Industrial area on September 5. The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
H E Dr Abdullah Saleh Mubarak Al Khulaifi will inaugurate the camp, the embassy statement added.
THE PENINSULA
