Body of Medak farmer rots in Saudi Arabia

HYDERABAD: While farmers celebrate Sankranti, the harvest festival on Saturday, Kethavath Ravi's family in Medak is in a state of mourning. Crop failure and mounting debts made him go to Saudi Arabia to earn so me money, but he was killed in a `hit and run' incident in the Gulf nation.
The incident took place on December 31, 2016 when he was knocked down by a car in Riyadh where he was working at a construction site.He had got a tourist visa on March 1, 2016 with a valid period of 90 days.
Aweek before the accident, he had called up his wife Kethavath Kamsi and told her he would be returning soon. “He also told his family that he could not make any money in Saudi Arabia and had not even been paid for his work. All he wanted was some money for his air ticket to return home,“ said Bilya Vislavath, brotherin-law of Ravi, a teacher in a government school in Kamareddy . Ravi's wife, two daughters aged 16 and 15, and two sons aged 14 and 13 are in a state of shock. “My brother-inlaw had two acres of land. Due to crop failure, he incurred a huge loss and was in debt. He wanted to go to Saudi Arabia to earn money,“ Vislavath said.
The procedure to get back the body is cumbersome. An IT professional and social worker, T R S Sriniwas has taken up the matter with the Indian embassy in Riyadh.“There are many cases of farmers going to the Gulf to come out of financial mess. However, they do not follow rules and overstay . This is what happened with Ravi, who went on a tourist visa," Srini said.
He also got the family to send a general power of attorney to request the Indian embassy to take up the matter.The family is asking for `blood money' (death compensation) from culprit and salary dues from Ravi's Saudi employer.