NDTV.com / january 18 2006
Duped Indian workers return from Kuwait
Six stranded workers, who were duped by a Delhi agent, have returned to India after a nightmarish experience. Gurinder Singh’s homecoming is a sad one. Instead of presents for his family in Bhatinda, all he has are horror stories of his stay in Kuwait.
"We saw bombs of 50-60 varieties. These bombs were buried during the 1991 Iraq-Kuwait war," said Singh while recounting his ordeal. "We were made to dig them up. We were asked to work in an explosives factory and were exposed to poisonous gases," he added.
Along with five other men, Gurinder was cheated by a Delhi travel agent who promised jobs and work visas.The workers landed in Kuwait to find they neither had jobs nor visas.
After repeated complaints, the Indian High Commission finally helped them to return to India.The travel agent is missing and investigations by NDTV have revealed that he shut shop three months ago. According to the workers, nearly 40 others cheated by the same travel agent are still stranded in Kuwait.