SILMIYA YOUSUF
COLOMBO – Trincomalee district parliamentarian Imran Mahroof highlighted the problems faced by the Lankan expatriates in the Middle East in the parliament on Wednesday.
“ Those people who have money from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait found their way back home by purchasing the air tickets at exorbitant rates, which is three times more than the normal fare. “But there are thousands of Sri Lankans who are currently sick, jobless, without salaries and even without food in these countries,” he said, lamenting that these workers do not have the required funds to pay for the airfare to return home.
“These workers brought us foreign exchange to our national coffers when they were well placed.It is the responsibility of the government to help these less fortunate people when they are in distress,” Mahroof noted.
He also pointed out that the ministry of labour and foreign employment has withdrawn the staff of Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau,SLBFE, from all the missions abroad. “ Who will work for the welfare of these workers in their absence,” he asked.
Mahroof also tabled a letter of an employee of the Sri Lankan embassy in Riyadh, Ismath Ali, who had sent a letter to president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The letter details the plight of such workers in the Middle East and drew the urgent attention of the government to repatriate them home.
