Telangana Youths Stranded In Iraq Reach Home Safe

Hyderabad: Thirty three Indians mostly from Telangana reached Delhi on Monday after being stranded in Iraq for more than 10 months. The gullible youths were cheated by Gulf agents on the pretext of providing lucrative jobs.

The rescue operation to bring back the youths was initiated after the intervention of Telangana minister KT Rama Rao and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who directed the Indian Embassy to look into the matter.

The members said they paid Rs 1,50,000 each to their agents who assured them of getting hefty salary. "We have come here to escape from poverty but we have been cheated," rued one of the youths. The trouble escalated once they landed in Erbil as they were denied work and had harrowing experience.

The incident comes close on the heels of 500 Indian workers in Bahrain approached the Indian government last month for help through social media saying that from past few months they have not been paid salary and are living on food handouts. Similarly, reports of Indian women being tortured by their employer in Saudi Arabia has come into light too.