As the Nitaqat law of the Saudi Arabia government has caused considerable anxiety among Indian expatriates there as they are worried about losing jobs, a high-level Indian delegation is likely to visit Riyadh soon to hold talks with the Saudi administration.
Sources here said the delegation may be headed by Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi and Union Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed. Kerala has the highest number of expatriates in the Gulf, particularly in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Earlier, Mr. Ravi and Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed, IUML MP from Malappuram in the State, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed the issue.
The delegation would inform Riyadh the difficulties and hardships the Indian expatriates might undergo as some of them had to return to India jobless if the Saudi authorities started enforcing the Nitaqat law strictly.
The deadline for implementing Nitaqat by the private employers in Saudi ended on Wednesday (March 27) last. Moreover if the Indian workers, who become jobless, were deported and an entry in this regard was made in their passports, they could not find job in any other country, the sources pointed outMeanwhile, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who had planned to meet Dr. Singh here leading a ministerial delegation to take up the issue on Tuesday, postponed the visit to April 8 in view of the State Assembly session.
