Doha
The Indian embassy registered the deaths of 18 expatriates from the south Asian country in July, the monthly Open House was informed on Friday.
With this, the number of deaths registered by the mission in 2015 rose to 165. Last year, a total of 279 deaths were recorded.
The monthly Open House was held at the mission to address urgent consular and labour issues/cases of Indian nationals in Qatar.
Ambassador Sanjiv Arora, deputy chief of mission R K Singh and other officials met the complainants, discussed their problems and assured them that the embassy would actively follow up their cases with the authorities concerned in the Qatar government, the mission said in a statement.
Arvind Patil, president of the Indian Community Benevolent Forum (ICBF), also attended the Open House. The ICBF is a community association working under the aegis of the embassy for the welfare of Indian workers.
An embassy team visited the Central Prison and Deportation Centre this week to enquire about the welfare of detainees from India. The total number of Indian nationals in the Central Prison and the Deportation Centre was 94 and 198, respectively, according to the statement.
During the current year, the labour and community welfare section of the embassy received a total of 2,402 complaints. The number of complaints received in 2014 was 3,943.
On the basis of requests received from the Qatari authorities for travel documents for inmates in the Deportation Centre, the embassy issued 14 emergency certificates in July. The mission also issued seven air tickets to Indian nationals in distress for their return to India last month.
Meanwhile, the ICBF continued to help Indian workers through various welfare measures, including provision of air tickets, financial assistance and medical help. The assistance given by the ICBF to Indian nationals in July included six air tickets for destitute workers.
