Eleven goldsmiths from Bengal stranded in Iran for seven months landed at Calcutta airport on Wednesday, following the external affairs ministry’s intervention.
Another goldsmith could not board the flight to India because of a visa problem that is expected to be resolved soon, said a spokesperson of the National Anti-trafficking Committee (NATC), a non-government organisation that initiated the process to bring the stranded youths home.
The families of the goldsmiths had earlier alleged that their employer had taken away their passports and kept the workers confined in a single room with little food and water. The youths managed to contact their families in Hooghly, Burdwan and Cooch Behar over WhatsApp.
Sheikh Mainuddin, one of the goldsmiths, told news channels at the airport that everything had been fine in first two months. “Our employer stopped paying us after devaluation of the Iranian currency earlier this year. Our passports were taken away and we were confined in a room with little to eat or drink,” he said. “We had our cellphones and managed to contact family members on WhatsApp to alert them about our plight.”
The anti-trafficking cell had been trying to bring the goldsmiths back to the country since October 21.
“We alerted the Prime Minister’s Office, the external affairs ministry, the Bengal chief minister, the CID and the Iranian embassy in New Delhi,” said Sk Jinnar Ali, the chairman of NATC.
The Indian embassy in Iran managed to get in touch with the youths and arranged food for them.
“The youths were rescued from Chabahar a few days ago, under the leadership of A.K. Singh of the Indian embassy. They were taken to Tehran,” Jinnar said.
The youths had been taken to Iran by a man called Giasuddin Mallick, who has been working at a jewellery showroom in Dubai for 15 years. Mallick took Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 from each of them and took them to Iran in February on tourist visas, their relatives had told NATC.
Giasuddin had also been also stranded in Iran. “I was asked by Sheikh to bring 10-11 people to Iran for work. I was assured that they would get food and salary,” he told news channels after arriving in the city.
Shelter for homeless
The Calcutta Municipal Corporation will build a five-storey shelter for homeless people at Tilak Nagar in ward 95. The civic body has invited a bid for drawing up the structural design for the building.
