Ashfaq Kaymkhani/Sikar

Lakhs of labourers from Shekhawati district of Rajasthan, who have been traditionally working as labourers in construction sites in various Arab countries have fallen on bad days due to first the general economic recession and now the Covid-induced lockdowns in most countries.

At present with the exception of Qatar – where massive construction work is going  for the 2022 FIFA - the construction sector has come to a screeching halt or slowed down in all the Arab countries.

After the first wave of Covid-19 hit the world and a lockdown was imposed, most of these labourers had to return home and they haven’t been able to go back. The visas of most of them have expired and they will have to begin afresh as and when the lockdown ends and normalcy is restored.

Labourers in camps

A journalist working in Dubai told Awaz-the voice that in In Arab countries the construction and related works have been stopped due to recession and now due to the epidemic. To-let boards are seen on most of the buildings across Dubai with businesses having closed down.

 On the other hand, workers had to stay put in some countries without work and pay and ended up spending their savings till they managed to fly back to India.

Also, some of the people had come back home for a break; even they are stuck.

Pitiable conditions in labour camp

More than one million labourers from the Shekhawati region work across Arab countries on construction sites. In Saudi Arabia, some of them had also opened grocery stores to cater to the community’s specific demands inside the labour camps.

As there are no buyers even they had to close their shops and return home.

In Shekhawati, the Arab money had also led to people opening small businesses back homes. Most of these people are not in the habit of saving and have spent money on raising children and on spending lavishly on weddings or other social occasions.

There are some big houses built with the Arab money and now left unfinished as the flow of money has stopped.

Earlier too thousands of Shekhawati labourers had to return home when in an accident involving the fall of the crane in Saudi Arabia workers were killed and regulatory authorities blacklisted a major construction company, thousands of workers had been rendered jobless and have returned home.

Labors in camps

Mohammad Sarwar Khan of Jawarpura Khan, who worked in Saudi Arabia for over 40 years, said that it seems to be the end of the road for locals to go for work in Arab countries. He said now only technical hands and skilled labourers will be in demand in the near future.

He said when he lived in Saudi Arabia, life was expensive and rentals were very high. Today, he said it is easy to get a house for rent at a good location at affordable rates. To-Let boards have surfaced on many buildings of Saudi Arabia too.

He said the first shock to expatriate labourers came when the Biladin company got blacklisted after the death of 111 people when a crane fell in the first Masjid al-Haram in September 2015. Similarly, the closure of Saudi Ozar Company was also a shocker.

The returnees say the companies still owe them money. While those who have gone through proper channel are sure to get it one day, those who went  not through registered companies are unlikely to get their dues.

Matloob Farooqui of Sikar, who worked in Dubai, said there is no work there and his work visa wasn't renewed and he had to return.

Some of the returnees have become NREGA workers, others have taken to poultry and goat farming. Since due to their lack of experience in these fields they have not been successful and have lost more money.