Sharjah: Police have investigated and addressed a suicide threat by four workers who, they claim, had been denied their dues by the employer.
The Sharjah Police intervened after Gulf News received a suicide note from four workers who complained they were starving, broke and with little hope for the future. The four workers at a remote desert labour accommodation in Al Hamriya Free Zone sent Gulf News the handwritten suicide note on Monday pledging to take their lives on Tuesday.
And they vowed to make good on the promise.
“We have a feeling we are going mad. We cannot go on any longer in this terrible and embarrassing time,” the note, signed by each member, read.
The note also mentioned that the workers had serious family problems. “We cannot fight any longer,” the workers said.
Tragedy, however, was averted when authorities met with the workers — Indian welders and pipefitters — and assured them that they will be helped out of their desperate situation.
Sharjah Police officials met with the four men early Tuesday. The tradesmen complained that they had not been paid by their employer since they resigned over a disagreement regarding pay levels.
Visas have also not been cancelled, claimed the workers, preventing them from returning home.
Sharjah Police were notified about the suicide note and opened an investigation into the complaints by the workers to find a way to help the men.
In an interview, the workers told Gulf News they were unable to support their families back home and had reached the end of their rope.
Mahtab Alam, one of the four workers, said they were living in a desperate situation in the last two months without any cash and unsure as to whether they would be able to go home at all.
“The company has not cancelled our visas,” he said.
Sujeet Barnawal, a welder, said the situation of all the workers in the company is the same.
“But they are scared to complain because of their families and parents in India,” he said.
Gulf News spoke to Sharjah Police and the four men were called to the Hamriyah Station to give their statement. Things moved fast from then onwards. The company, Technomak Energy, gave the four their final benefits, said police.
The company officials first refused to pay them airline passage but have relented and will buy them air tickets.
Police said money in the labour settlement will be forwarded to the workers when they land back home in India.
The four seemed very relieved that their ordeal appears to be ending and they thanked the police officers at Hamriya Station for their understanding and compassion for their situation.
