Preventive steps sought to end worker suicides

 Manama : As more and more suicide cases are reported among expats recently, preventive measures are being sought to protect workers from taking to such extreme steps. Since March, DT News alone reported seven suicide cases where expat workers ended their lives at their residences. 

“There seems to have been a few reported lately in the Press but I can’t really say much on the issue as it has always been very difficult to assess,” Migrant Worker Protection Society Chairperson Marietta Das said. 

“It is very hard to track whether any worker has suicidal tendencies and as far as my experience in ICRF is concerned, I have noticed that most of the labourers end their lives for financial reasons,” Bhagwan Asarpota, Chairman of ICRF said.

“Most of the workers send money home to their families and if their sponsors don’t pay them on time or hold on to passports, a helpless situation is created which force them to commit suicides,” he said.

“Suicide are not discussed in the Kingdom among the labourers. So we definitely need helpline and awareness programmes to prevent people from such acts,” he said.

 “It is also high time we put a system in place to tackle issues like these as it is difficult to track the number of expats who end their lives or for that matter to take preventive measures so that expats don’t have to resort to suicides,” he said. Asarpota have requested workers to contact ICRF or embassies before resorting to any extreme steps. Perhaps ICRF or embassies could help them get out of the problem they are facing.