Even as the government has begun evacuating Indians residing in Libya, around 150 Indians — most of them highly qualified professionals and engineers, in the Foreigners' Camp, Libyan Iron and Steel Company, Misurata — in the strife-torn country are facing a dilemma.
Most foreigners from Britain, Turkey, Italy, Egypt, Spain, France, Germany and China in the camp have already left. But 84 Indian employees of Global Steel Holdings Limited are risking their lives, staying in the camp in the North African country, awaiting payment of their salaries. With them are their wives and children. Among them are 21 Keralites — 12 employees, five women and four children.
In an e-mail to The Hindu from the camp, the employees said the total dues owed by the company were around $1.7 million. “We know that once we leave Libya, we will never be paid. All employees have pending salaries ranging from 8 to 10 months and we have been fighting for it unsuccessfully.”
Many former employees had to forgo their pending salaries when they were forced to leave the company for personal reasons, and years later, they still have not received any money from the company.
The employees had been trying to contact the owner of the company, Pramod Mittal, and other senior functionaries on the telephone for the last six days.
On hunger strike
“The employees are on a hunger-strike, demanding the pending salaries. The condition of four employees has deteriorated. At present we do not have medicines and other medical facilities. We also cannot move out of our camp. Being under a virtual house arrest, there is nothing that we can do to improve their health situation,” he said.
For the last four days, the employees have been surrounded by the sounds of shelling and gunfire. Many, who have taken loans from relatives and banks, see a bleak road ahead. It is a real trauma, given the present state of violence in Libya.
There is a 2-km-long queue of passengers outside the airport in Tripoli since Friday morning. “The winter rains have commenced with bone-chilling winds. There is a shortage of drinking water and, with all shops closed, even day-to-day essentials are becoming scarce. The city of Misurata is virtually cut off,” he said.
The power and water, it is feared, will last for only 7 to 10 days. Once the power failed, potable water would not be available, with seawater being the only source left. The government should intervene to enable them to get them their money and ensure safe transportation back to India, he said.
Misurata is in north-western Libya, 210 km to the east of Tripoli, on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misurata. It is the third-largest city in Libya after Tripoli and Benghazi.
For the kith and kin of the stranded, it is an anxious wait with the communication channels being affected by the unrest. For many like Lizy Mathew in Thiruvananthapuram, wife of an employee, it is a tense situation.
“We are now depending on e-mails as we can't reach anyone by telephone. We were told that they are running short of money as the company was giving them only living allowance, in local currency,” she said.
