- “Contracts are only on paper for the migrant workers working in Qatar, which hosts the FIFA World Cup next month. The average salary on offer is 1,200 Qatari Riyals, or about Rs 27,000. to 100 days of work per year with a maximum annual income on average of about Rs 21,500.”
- Among host of benefits mentioned in the job host of benefits include eight hour shifts; Two additional hours to “meet workload obligations”; Additional payment of 125% for overtime worked on a normal day and 150% on weekends
- Food, transport and accommodation provided by employers, accompanied by a medical card
- Twenty-one days of paid vacation for the first two years, which would then be doubled; and, after two years, a round-trip economy-class air ticket from Doha to the nearest international airport to a worker’s hometown in India.
Contracts for Indians working in Qatar for the preparation of the FIFA World Cup point out a host of benefits. These include eight hour shifts; Two additional hours to “meet workload obligations”; Additional payment of 125% for overtime worked on a normal day and 150% on weekends; Food, transport and accommodation provided by employers, accompanied by a medical card; Twenty-one days of paid vacation for the first two years, which would then be doubled; and, after two years, a round-trip economy-class air ticket from Doha to the nearest international airport to a worker’s hometown in India.
However, these contracts are only on paper for the migrant workers working in Qatar, which hosts the FIFA World Cup next month. The average salary on offer is 1,200 Qatari Riyals, or about Rs 27,000. to 100 days of work per year with a maximum annual income on average of about Rs 21,500.
Indian workers who have returned from the Gulf state, and the families of those who died there while working for tournament-related companies, say the reality on the ground is far removed from the glitter of the contract they have signed, reported freshgooglenews.
Their contracts are silent on insurance and compensation in the event of death or accident. And that the Gulf country’s opaque labour laws have made it very difficult to make legitimate claims.
This, despite the fact that the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the Qatari body responsible for staging the World Cup, urged employers at least three years ago to take out life insurance for workers to ensure that their families receive compensation regardless of the place or cause of death.
Workers who have returned from World Cup projects say they had to work long hours in harsh weather conditions, provided substandard housing and had to work in dangerous conditions on construction sites. “After landing there, we submitted our passports to the employers. We got up at 3 or 4 a.m. every day to start work at 5 a.m., before the temperatures rose. Normally, our work ended around 6 p.m. Often we didn’t have the chance to take a break. Before, Friday was our day off, but the whole day was for recovery, so you couldn’t do anything else,” said Sravan Velmal, who worked for a construction company in Doha with his father Ramesh. Velmal returned home after Ramesh died in Doha from heart failure.
It was in the last decade, after Qatar won the right to host the World Cup, that the country became a favourite destination in the Middle East for Indian workers. In 2020, Indians made up 42% of the 17,639 workers of 69 nationalities who worked on projects overseen by the Supreme Committee, according to the panel’s worker welfare compliance report. In July, the Ministry of External Affairs told Lok Sabha that of the 129,260 Indians who migrated to Gulf countries in 2021, 49,579 went to Qatar – the most among the lot.
The majority of these workers are employed either at World Cup venues or in the service sector which prepares to welcome millions of visitors during the tournament – from stadiums and highways to marinas.
For many of them, the journey began with exploitation at the start of the migration cycle. According to government rules, recruitment agents are allowed to charge up to Rs 30,000 plus 18% GST for their services. In addition, the cost of air tickets and visa fees must be borne by employers.
Family members of several of the workers who died in Qatar say they paid the agents exorbitant fees of up to Rs 1.5 lakh. “Therefore, workers are enduring harsh conditions in Qatar just to be able to clear their debts. The workers are aware that if they come back, there are not many job opportunities back home,” Velmal said.
“When the FIFA World Cup-related activities started, the need for workers in Qatar increased along with the wages,” said Masula Praveen, an employment agent. “Every day we receive new requests. Most of these contracts are valid until the World Cup as there are not many requirements after the end of the event
The migration cycle begins when an employer raises a “request” by submitting a formal request to the Indian Embassy in Doha, said Bheem Reddy Mandha, Chairman of the Emigrants Welfare Forum and Migrant Forum member in Asia. Once a letter of formal notice is submitted, outlining job requirements and employee benefits, the information is uploaded to a government web portal, triggering the recruitment process.
Mandha said workers to go to a sub-agent, who charges their own commission, thereby inflating costs. “This happens because most of the government-registered agencies are in cities like Hyderabad and Mumbai, which are far from the workers’ villages,” Mandha said.
Normally, a recruitment campaign is organized in neighborhoods identified as catchment areas.
“When the FIFA World Cup-related activities started, the need for workers in Qatar increased along with the wages,” said Masula Praveen, an employment agent. “Every day we receive new requests. Most of these contracts are valid until the World Cup as there are not many requirements after the end of the event.
A key selection criteria, Praveen said, is the worker’s willingness and ability to work under strict rules. Sometimes, he says, a candidate is brought to commit, by video, to working at least six months in a company. “If the person returns to India within six months, the company imposes a fine on us of up to 50,000 rupees,” he said.
Once an applicant is finalized, their passport is submitted to the Protector of Emigrants (PoE) for permission to emigrate to India. “Each name will be registered and uploaded to the government website with full details, including a copy of passport, photographs and employment contracts. It can be retrieved at any time by the authorities,” Mandha said. While the process was followed in almost all cases, as reported in a story by The Indian Express, once in Qatar, the workers are mostly on their own.
International human rights watchdogs have accused Qatari authorities of failing to investigate the cause of the deaths. In one case, after reaching Qatar, a worker – Rajendra Mandaloji, a carpenter – was presented with a contract that paid about half of what he was promised in salary, his wife Sucharita said. This practice, called “contract substitution,” is very common, Mandha said. The stress of a low-paying job and heavy debts took its toll to the point that in September 2019, Mandaloji took his own life.
“By going there, a person is healthy. The doctor certifies that he is fit to work,” Mandha said, adding that detailed health checks are mandatory for workers before leaving for Qatar. “After going there, people under 40 die, many of them from cardiac arrest. The reasons must be investigated.
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