THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Illegal recruitment of women from the State as housemaids in the Gulf is thriving, despite a ban by the Union Government on employing those aged below 30 for the work in the countries in the region and the changes in immigration rules.

The recent rescue of 27 women by the police from flats at Deira in Dubai has again turned the spotlight on such recruitments. Many of these women who were taken to work as housemaids to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were pushed into immoral activities by agents from Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode.

Sources said these women, along with others from Tamil Nadu and the northern States of the country and Russia and Egypt, were put up in posh flats. Many of them were now trapped in the UAE, especially Dubai, with no passports or other travel documents.

During a visit to Dubai in May, a team of MLAs from Kerala heard the plight of 33 women, including 17 from the State, housed in the Central Prison at Jumera. The women were from Kannur, Muthukulam, Thalassery, Pathanamthitta, Chavara and Nedumangad. They told the legislators A.N. Rajan Babu, K.P. Rajendran and K. Radhakrishnan how they were brought to Dubai and forced into the flesh trade by agents. Many of them said that though they had completed the sentence, they could not return home as they did not have passports and other travel documents.

Women to return

Mr. Babu told The Hindu that `out passes' were ready for the women to return home. "A report based on a visit to the jail and steps needed to stop illegal recruitment of Malayali women will be submitted to the Chief Minister this week," he said.

Source said that during the last four years, 25,000 women aged below 30 had gone to the Gulf countries from the State for working as housemaids. As the Union Government, on a recommendation of the National Commission for Women, had banned the recruitment of such women as housemaids in the Gulf, they were sent as beauticians, sales girls, tailors or hairdressers, they added.

Some women were sent as housemaids by getting `clearance' by affixing a fake emigration seal on the passport. Another method was known as `setting' or `pushing' in immigration circles and among recruiting agents. Here, the personnel at the airports ensured that the women got inside the terminal. The `fee' charged was Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000 a person. `Setting' reportedly took place at the three airports in the State, but more so at the Chennai international airport, sources said.

The women, mostly from poor families, were promised a monthly salary of Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,000, annual leave for two months and free air ticket. Although the agents in the Gulf provided the sub-agents here the money for taking passports, airfare and meeting other expenses, the latter took money from the women, many of whom were forced to pledge their houses and property to pay up. Threats from sub-agents and poverty at home forced them to remain silent about their suffering.

Some women, physically and mentally harassed, had been brought back on the initiative of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs Department (Norka) and social organisations based in the Gulf.

Although the Union Ministry for Labour, agencies of the Home Ministry, the State Government and the police are aware of the illegal recruitment from many women who have narrated the misery they faced in Gulf countries, no steps have been taken against the guilty.

Directive from Centre

The recruiting agents had brought the irregularities in the immigration wing and allegations against immigration officers at many airports to the notice of the Union Government during a meeting in New Delhi in January. The Union Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, through an official circular in May, has directed that instances of `pushing' and `illegal immigration' should be reported directly to the Union Home Ministry or the State Government concerned.

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