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Bookish emigration officer makes life miserable for Kerala's job-seekers

Hundreds of recruits to the United Arab Emirates are stranded in Thiruvananthapuram following the tightening of emigration procedures by a new emigration officer who took charge on Wednesday.

While the officer, Satyanarayana, claims that his action is aimed at protecting the recruits, the recruiting agents say he was violating the government of India's orders without valid reasons.

The emigration office at Thycaud was witness to unruly scenes on Thursday as hundreds of recruits swarmed the office. The local police had to intervene to remove the irate recruits, who were demanding clearance on the basis of photocopy of the visa they submitted.

The new emigration officer has till now refused to accept photocopies unless they are attested by the Indian embassy at Dubai. He has also been demanding other documents like work agreement, demand letter and indemnity bond from the recruitment agents.

However, the travel agents alleged that the emigration officials have purposefully withheld permission to the passengers demanding higher bribe amounts compared to the existing rates. With the travel agents and the emigration officials pitted against each other over allegations of bribes, job-seekers to the Middle-East are going through trying times.

The new emigration officer told Rediff On The Net that he was strictly enforcing the existing labour laws so that job-seekers don't suffer on any account when they land up in the Gulf. "Some of the visa photocopies submitted by passengers seemed to be fake, most of the travel agents don't provide indemnity bonds as per the law and submit only the affidavits prepared by agents. Certificates regarding passing of trade tests are also not being submitted by them," Satynarayana added.

There have been reports from the Gulf about women workers being forced into prostitution. Some of them have filed their complaints to the State Women's Commission. Apart from this about 59 Malayali workers have landed in Dubai jail due to various charges, Satyanarayana pointed out. They were sent by a Thiruvananthapuram-based recruitment agency who had offered attractive wages after taking huge amounts as fees. The emigration officer said a number of travel agencies who claimed to be registered were cheating the job-seekers.

K V Muralidharan, President of Kerala Association of Travel Agents said as per labour rules framed in 1996, the emigration officer can clear a passenger on the basis of the photocopy of visa and the affidavit filed by the travel agency on behalf the employee. This was being followed by the earlier emigration officer who relinquished charge last Wednesday. In order to prove his point, Muralidharan cited the case of a stranded passenger Rajyyan Stuary John who obtained clearance (No. 21955 on September 9) from the Cochin emigration office on production of the photocopy of visa.

What makes things difficult for the Indian employee in the Gulf is that the sponsors don't usually provide the original copy of the visa nor take any initiative to get the copy of the visa attested by the Indian embassy in that country, a Qatar Airways spokesman in Thiruvananthapuram said.

Air Travel Enterprises Pvt Ltd , a leading travel agency in Thiruvananthapuram, also finds it difficult to airlift their customers under the new regulations enforced by the emigration officer. A spokesman of Air Travel Enterprises said about 60 of their passengers were stranded because of the new regulations.

With the emigration officials in Thiruvananthapuram unwilling to relax the stipulations, passengers are moving to other cities including Cochin, Bombay and Madras to get their visas cleared for the onward journey.

According to reports received from the travel industry, already a few passengers have succeeded in obtaining clearances from other centres. The travel agents have alleged that some staff at the emigration office were indulging in corruption under the guise of strictly enforcing labour laws. "They are discreetly demanding a larger pie for clearing visas," the agents said.

Meanwhile, Satyanarayana clarified that he was not enforcing any new rule to cause hardship to the Gulf-bound passengers, "I am only strictly following the rules which have been in force for a long time."

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