News

Sri Lankan workers awaiting repatriation from Lebanon have to put up with the barest of necessities despite the efforts of the embassy staff to make their transit period in the mission comfortable.

There are more than 1,200 workers, mainly women, who are crowded into an apartment block that can hold only 30 persons while toilet and bathing facilities are woefully inadequate.

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Amanul Farooq himself has to run errands to get food for the workers purchasing 1,000 to 1,200 loaves of bread for the workers’ daily breakfast.

Despite the 16 day war, there is no rationing of food but a fuel ration is in place now as well as disruption of electricity supplies.

“With the fuel ration in place, we will be unable to operate generators if there is a breakdown in electricity supply,” he told The Sunday Times yesterday.

So far there is only one reported Sri Lankan casualty from among the reported 80,000 who work there. Of these only 55,000 to 60,000 are there legally while many are those who have over stayed their visas because of the lucrative nature of employment, the Ambassador said. Asked about reports that some workers were being held against their will, Ambassador Farooq said that the Lebanese employers spend US $1,500 to 2,000 to get down each worker and hence they were reluctant to let them go.

“We have informed the Sri Lankans to get to a main road and come to the embassy even if they don’t have their passports,” he said.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been playing the main role in helping the workers and is providing transport from Lebanon to Damascus till they board a flight to Colombo, which they normally manage to do within a few hours. However, some flight delays have forced them to stay in Damascus for several days. Qatar Airways has offered ten free flights to transport the workers after a request made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Emir, Mr. Farooq added. SriLankan Airlines too is operating flights exclusively for Lankans.