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Indian housemaids in Qatar better off now

DUBAI: Harassment of Indian housemaids in Qatar has come down significantly after the Indian embassy intervened to legalise the recruitment process, a senior embassy official said.

Despite an earlier ban by the Indian Government on recruiting housemaids, a number of them were brought to Qatar through illegal channels.

Improved conditions

This has now virtually stopped and the living conditions of the maids have improved after the mission intervened to legalise the recruitment process and hiked the minimum salary requirements.

Ramesh Chandra, outgoing second secretary at the embassy, told The Peninsula on Wednesday that there were only one or two complaints now from housemaids a week and most of them were from those recruited illegally. He said the mission had attested employment contracts for about 5,000 Indian housemaids over the past 10 months. ``We are getting 20 to 25 requests for attestation almost every day,'' he added.

UNI

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