HYDERABAD: When Borabanda resident Shakera Begum was estranged by her husband and she could not take care of the family, she looked overseas for a source of income. Begum had heard the age-old story before: “You will get a comfortable job and would be paid a sum that would be handsome when translated to Indian money.” Begum fell for it. Now, its been 31 months that she has been stuck in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with a job as a housemaid, barely getting paid and being worked inhumane hours.
On Wednesday, her daughter Reshma Begum wrote to Minister of External Affairs, urging it to intervene in the matter and arrange for the immediate repatriation of her mother who has fallen ill from the harsh working conditions over there. Her troubles started in before 2016, when her husband left her. An agent Mohammed Murtuza Siddiqui took notice of her ill fate, and approached Begum with a job as a nanny and that she would be paid SR 1,500. “His son Mukarram and Sohail made her passport and did all formalities and she went to Saudi Arabia on October 1, 2016,” Reshma Begum said.
In Riyadh, 40-year-old Shakera is being made to work as a housemaid for 15 hours a day, denied proper food and accommodation and hasn’t been paid salary for the last six months, alleged the daughter. “Due to work pressure she has fallen ill and her sugar level is rising,” she said. Shakera, fed up of the treatment meted out to her has tried to come back to India several times, but of no avail. Her Kafeel has allegedly confiscated her passport and refuses to hand it over to her unless she pays him `3 lakh, as that was sum which was paid for her “to be bought.”
She even said that she has tried contacting the agents urging them to help her in bringing her mother back. However, reportedly agents threaten her saying that they are “untouchables” because of local political influence.