Dubai:
The Indian consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has appealed to members of the Indian community to volunteer for its campaign to help those Indian expatriate workers who have been affected by the new labour policy in that country.
"It is a unique opportunity for those Indian nationals who have been affected by the Nitaqat programme to benefit from the current correctional campaign of the government," the Arab News quoted a consulate statement as saying.
"It is also an opportunity for those Indian volunteers and philanthropists who are driven by a sense of community service to help their brethren to correct their residency status as per relevant laws and regulations."
Indian workers have been thronging the consulate and the Indian embassy in Riyadh ever since Saudi Arabia implemented the new Nitaqat or Saudiasation policy to take advantage of a grace period the Saudi authorities announced that ends July 3.
The new policy makes it mandatory for all Saudi companies to reserve 10 per cent of jobs for Saudi nationals.
Earlier, responding to another appeal from the embassy in Riyadh, around 400 members of the Indian community had registered to work as volunteers.
There are around two million expatriate Indians in that Gulf nation, many of them blue collar workers.