Panaji: Eight Goan Women Rescued from Albania: Officials

Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji
 
Panaji, May 17: Goa NRI commissioner Eduardo Faleiro on Tuesday May 17 informed that eight Goan ladies were duped and dumped in a dark room in Albania before they were rescued by the Indian government.

Faleiro said that a Goa-based agent had committed a fraud against these ladies, who were among 20 women from across India who were sent to Albania to work in a bag manufacturing workshop.

"All 20 were sent by a Goa-based agent and we will act against him once we receive complaint from the victims," the NRI commissioner said appealing to the victims to come forward and lodge their complaint.

He said that these women were 'cheated' with the assurance that they would be paid 20 US dollars per day but were actually paid only two US dollars. "They were dumped in a dark room without food for days together when they protested against the lower pay scale," Faleiro said.

“We don’t have an embassy in Albania so I contacted the secretary and the joint secretary in charge of Central Europe in our ministry of external affairs," said Faleiro, a former union minister of state for external affairs.

He said that 17 women were repatriated to India by the union government while three of them preferred to stay back in Albania.

Faleiro said that fraudulent recruiting agents have become a major nuisance and NRI commissionerate has decided to put in place a committee that would oversee such cases. "These agents are not booked with Protector General of Immigrants and many a time, travel agents double up as recruitment agents," he added.