An unspecified number of Bangladeshis among more than 300 expatriate workers in Dubai, the largest and most famous city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have been left in the lurch without salaries for several months.
Many of these blue collar workers of a private firm based in the city now want to go home, but have their visas expired, which the employer has refused to renew.
The workers are staying in labour accommodation in the city's Sonapur. They all are sitting jobless with expired visas as the work on their sites have stopped due to lack of funds.
Describing the desperation of a Bangladeshi worker who is in his 30s, Khaleej Times quoted him as saying: "It has been so many months that we stopped working and hence we are penniless.
"Forget about sending money home, right now, we have no food to eat, our visas are expired and our passport is still with the employer, who has been making promises after promises that he would pay us soon.
"But nothing has worked out yet. We cannot work elsewhere as we don't have our documents, we have no source of income or even can't return home."
Though the workers have been left without salaries for several months, the crisis, in fact, began a little over a year ago when they started experiencing delays in getting salaries.
Indian worker Prem Sagar said he had been eating bread soaked in water. Holding his request for resignation that he had sent to the company a year ago.
Prem, who has worked with the company for over 10 years, said he has been pleading the company to accept his resignation for more than a year.
Pakistani driver Mohammad Noor Khan, who has been with the company for a decade, said, "For the last six months, some of us have been going to our company office every day to check when we will get our salaries.
"But they just drive us out, saying that they would give when they have funds. If we want to quit, we are asked to simply wait for months. When we go to the airport, the company gives us whatever salary it wishes and from that too it cuts the cost of the ticket and overstay fines.
"Basically, we have the option to go home empty-handed, with a promise that when the company gets funds it will send us our dues."
Dar Al Ber Society, a charity, has informed the consulates of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan - as all the workers belong to the three countries - that have swung into action, bringing some hope to the workers.
Indian Consul-General Vipul told Khaleej Times that a team of officials from the consulate visited the company's office and the employer had promised them to resolve the issue soon.
When the UAE newspaper contacted the employer, he promised to clear the dues of the workers at the earliest and said he had already dispatched one batch of salaries and will try and payout the rest of the workers in the coming month.
More than 2.3 million Bangladeshis have gone to work in the UAE, the second largest destination for them after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, since 1976, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
