Amnesty for expats in Oman to be extended, says Tharoor

Muscat: India's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, left Muscat on Sunday night after revealing unexpected good news for the hundreds of Indian workers waiting to make good use of "amnesty' offered by Oman.

According to Tharoor, Oman's Manpower Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Abdullah Al Bakri had assured him that the March 31 deadline, for exit without paying fines, would be extended. "If overstaying expatriate workers cannot leave Oman before the March 31 deadline then they would get more time," the Indian Minister assured.

"So far, the average processing time by the Omanis has been 500 workers per day," Tharoor said while interacting with media on Sunday night before leaving Oman.

He also felt that at the rate at which exit permits were being processed, it would not permit any government, including Omani government, to meet the March 31 deadline. "The sheer scale of the problem, the numbers involved would need more time."

He said the Indian embassy had so far registered 18,300 workers seeking exit without paying fine. "We expect more to register plus more such expatriate workers from the other countries," he said.

Tharoor said the Omani minister had agreed to expedite the process. He also announced that the Manpower Ministry had decided, at his request, to process exit applications on Thursday only for Indians. "It is an exclusive arrangement only for the Indian workers seeking amnesty," he said.

The Indian Minister known to keep close contacts with his followers and Indians in general around the world through the social networking website, Tweeter, went out of his way to meet a large number of Indian workers gathered at the Indian embassy to register for an exit pass.

Some of the workers, he said, complained about their passports being held by their respective companies. "The Manpower Minister has assured me that strict actions would be taken against such companies if workers complained," he said.

According to Tharoor, the Omani minister thought that the companies were in violation of ILO (International Labour Organisation) standards that Oman had endorsed by retaining the passport.

He said that 3,000 Indian workers were suffering because employers were holding their passports. "Some of them have no food, no shelter," he said, adding that Manpower Ministry was not comfortable with embassy opening a shelter for these workers, as it was not in conformity with the Omani laws.

However, the India's ambassador to Oman, Anil Wadhwa, has arranged with a local company to give shelter to these workers at their existing camp.

Tharoor also said these workers would get priority for flying back home.

He also spoke about the generous word for the Indian workers by Oman's Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers, Sayyid Fahd Bin Mahmood Al Saeed.

"The Omani Deputy Prime Minister told me that the Indian workers were innocents and had contributed to Oman's well-being and were only victims of some unscrupulous agents," he said.

According to the Indian Minister, Sayyid Fahd said Oman, in spirit, would not object to these workers regularise their status and return. However, those taking amnesty are being stamped for no re-entry.

"I took this up with the Manpower Minister and mentioned what Sayyid Fahd had said, and the minister has assured me that they would look into the matter." Therefore, there is hope for these 'illegal" workers to return to Oman after legalising their status.