DOHA: The Indian embassy has received 1,654 labour-related complaints from workers since January, an official statement said, without providing details and nature of grievances.
The labour and community welfare section received 3,943 complaints in 2014.
The statement follows the monthly Open House the embassy held to address urgent consular and labour-related problems of its nationals.
Ambassador Sanjiv Arora, Deputy Chief of Mission R K Singh and other officials met complainants and discussed their problems.
Baby Kurien, Vice-President, Indian Community Benevolent Forum (ICBF), which works under the aegis of the embassy for the welfare of workers, was present.
A total of 144 Indians were at the deportation centre and 91 in the central prison and an embassy team visited the facilities to enquire about their welfare.
The embassy registered 18 deaths in May, while the number of deaths registered since January is 118. The number of deaths registered in 2014 was 279.
Following requests from Qatari authorities for travel documents for inmates at the deportation centre, the embassy issued 26 emergency certificates in May and 15 air tickets to Indians in distress to return home.
ICBF provided seven air tickets to those who could not afford travel expenses to facilitate their deportation.
It is organising a health and yoga awareness workshop for workers on June 5, at 7am at Indian Cultural Centre. It is open to all and being held as part of activities to commemorate the first International Day of Yoga.
Last December, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution presented by India to declare June 21 as International Day of Yoga. The resolution had received 177 co-sponsorships. Qatar was one of the co-sponsors.
The Peninsula
