Punjabi driver forced to herd camels in Saudi

AMRITSAR: A Punjabi driver's dream of a decent job in the Gulf was shattered after he was forced to work as a camel herder in Saudi Arabia. The grueling job of feeding and taking camels to pastures in the desert has left him ill with severe stomach infection and nobody to hear his plight.
"The owner of the camel farm hardly gives me anything to eat and makes me drink water meant for camels due to which I have got severe stomach infection," said Jaswant Singh, while talking to TOI over phone from a village situated around 50km from Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday.Singh hails from Bhagian village in Hoshiarpur district.
Singh went to work as driver in Kuwait through an agent of Garhi village four months ago. "Travel agent's son is in Kuwait who sends labour requirement in various companies in Kuwait to his father who in turn send boys from Punjab," he said.
After spending few days in Kuwait he was sent to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia with a local person who took him to his camel farm situated outside city and made him a camel herder. "I have been working as camel herder for more than three months, the owner has not given me salary, and when I asked him for medical help he refused," he added.
He was contacted by a UK-based NGO Nyaya that took up his case with Indian embassies in both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. When contacted, chair of Nyaya Jas Uppal said, "Jaswant Singh's treatment by his agent, his employer and the Indian authorities is inhumane and barbaric."
She said she had informed Indian embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, ministry of external affairs in India and international human rights organizations about Jaswant Singh's condition. She was hopeful that someone would rescue him from Riyadh and send him back home.
"Now the owner also beats me since I am unable to do hard physical labour in his camel farm. I am dying, please help me," Jaswant added before disconnecting.