In yet another incident of housemaids getting trapped in Saudi Arabia, the family members of a Pollachi-based woman working in Dubai as maidservant have sought the help of the district collector Archana Patnaik, on Monday, to convince the government to intervene and bring her back to India.

According to R. Pappathy, her daughter G. Bharathi (37) from Thillai Nagar at Pollachi, had gone to Saudi Arabia to work as a maidservant in a house on September 9, through a Mumbai-based agent named Sikkandar Basha. The employer had agreed tp pay a monthly salary of Rs.25,000, but no money was paid until now.

Nagarathinam, the sister of the victim, said that during a phone call to her, Bharathi had mentioned that she was being forced to work for 18 hours, and was given food only once a day. “She was initially asked to work in one house. However, her employer had forced her to work in the houses of his relatives too,” she said. She added that Bharathi was also worried about her deteriorating health due to the work overload.

Nagarathinam informed that, on October 12, when they contacted the agent to bring her back, he had demanded a sum of Rs.70,000. But, even after paying up Rs.49,500, there was no response from Sikkandar Basha. His mobile phone is now constantly switched off.

Frustrated with this, the family members had sought the help of the district administration to seek the government intervention to bring Bharati back.