India to evacuate laid-off workers from Saudi Arabia

NEW DELHI – India's government says it plans to evacuate thousands of Indian workers who have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and cannot afford to pay for a flight home.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Monday that the government was arranging exit documents for those workers who wished to return to India.

Swaraj told lawmakers that India's junior foreign minister, V.K. Singh, will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet with Saudi officials to arrange for the workers' return. She said that some of the workers have not been paid for months.

The workers were mostly employed by Saudi construction companies, and were laid off amid a slowdown in the industry due to low global oil prices. Around 10,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia have lost their jobs.