A devastating fire on Wednesday in a multi-storey building housing foreign workers in southern Kuwait’s Mangaf area killed 49 people, mostly Indians, and injured over 50 others out of an expected 160 people who were present in the building at the time of the accident.
India and Kuwait had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on labour, employment and manpower development in 2007 to enhance transparency in recruitment procedure and ensure protection and welfare of Indian migrant workers in Kuwait.
A senior government official, aware of the deliberations, told ET that the government is proactively reviewing the situation and will scrutinise the employer’s contract in view of the MoU between the two countries. India has sought details of employment of these workers, including a copy of their employment contract, though its embassy in Kuwait.”This will help us to understand if they were legal migrants and the employers had complied with basic terms and conditions of employment. Besides, it will help identify the responsibility of employers in cases of industrial mishaps,” the official added.
