Vaiko bats for Indian workers in the US

(June 01, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) General secretary of MDMK Vaiko has written a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to intervene in the issue of suffering of 500 Indian immigrants in the USA.

In his letter a copy of which was release to the press today, Vaiko said that all these youngsters were duped by an recruiting agency in Mumbai with the promise of getting them jobs in US.
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He said each of the candidate had paid Rs 6 lakh to the company in 2006 and signed lot of documents as was required by the company. The company took them to New Orleans and got them jobs in an international company, Signal. But they were treated in an inhuman way and were made to stay and sleep in trailer lorries.

He said that after a long struggle, the workers managed to escape from the clutches of that company with the help of an NGO.They also lodged a complaint against the company to the authorities. The ill-treated employees undertook a ‘patha yatra’ to Washington to make the people aware of their plight and also demand justice.

Seventeen of them had sat in front of White House and resorted to a hunger strike. After 10 days, the health conditions of the agitators worsened. The representatives of workers met the American Congress members and explained about their sufferings and problems.

On 25 May, a group representing the agitators met the Indian Ambassador Ronan Sen and requested the intervention of the Indian Embassy to sort out the problems. But the Ambassador told them that he had not been aware of their memorandum submitted to the Embassy 15 days ago. This only shows the callous attitude of the Ambassador towards the plight of Indian citizens.
- Sri Lanka Guardian