Dubai Dream Turns into Nightmare for Women from Punjab

Source: The New Indian Express

Chandigarh: Many women from Punjab, who moved to Dubai with the promise of respectable and lucrative jobs, are now revealing their dark experiences and saying they are hell-bent on money from travel agents.

Yes.. Lakhs of residents who go to work in Dubai from India are becoming victims of human trafficking without getting the job they wanted there. Here the travel agents are taking away the lives of the employees by promising them lucrative jobs. The Punjab SIT has revealed a shocking fact that recruitment agents are taking employees to Dubai on tourist visas instead of employment visas.

Instead of employment visa for Indians going for employment, they are being cheated by taking them on tourist visa. There they are being pushed to the job they have asked for as well as other lower level and other jobs. As many as 18 cases of trafficking of women to West Asian countries have been detected so far and these facts have come out during the investigations conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Punjab State Police. Police have so far arrested eight accused in this case.

The state government had ordered an inquiry into the matter last month, led by SIT Ferozepur Superintendent of Police Randhir Kumar. Then a few days ago it started working. In some cases, women cheated by travel agents have shared their dark situations with SIT officials. These women, mainly from lower middle class or poor families, were lured there by travel agents with promises of good jobs in beauty parlors in Dubai and help in caring for the elderly. For this he had to go on a work visa.

But the agents took him on a tourist visa instead of a work visa. From there it was taken to Muscat by road. After their visa expires after a few days, they are illegal in the country and can therefore be prosecuted. A police officer said that the victimized girls are being pushed into menial jobs that fetch poor wages.

Women are treated inhumanely. They are not provided proper accommodation and food. When he asked the travel agents to send him back, he was told that he would have to pay another 2 lakhs to return. Since they are not financially sound, they inevitably end up in a position where they have to stick to jobs they don’t deserve.

Similarly, this huge network is spread across the country and the SIT is trying to unravel the network of agents spread across Punjab, Delhi, Kerala and Telangana. These travel agents use sub-agents for their act and they are paid some commission. These sub-agents check their family history before recommending their names to their bosses. These women’s passports have been taken away, making it difficult for them to return. We also have some cases where some of these women approached Indian embassies, said a senior official.

A few days ago 15 women returned from Oman and narrated their plight. He told the police about being caught by travel agents. He said that so far 23 women have been rescued from Oman and 14 more are trapped.