A 53-year-old Indian citizen, stranded in Saudi Arabia over a car loan has successfully left the gulf-country after the community workers and the Consulate General of India in Jeddah
The man named Rajan Palakkundu Parambil of Malappuram district in Kerala, was working in Najran, a southwestern city in Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen, being employed by a contracting company.
As per sources, the company where he was working, ran into troubles and many of its employees left it as a result of frequent missile attacks by the Houthi militias targeting civilians in the border regions of Narjan.
With such complications Rajan was completely baffled and did not know what to do but help finally came from the Indian consulate and the Keralite community. Explaining his torment he said, “There are no words to describe my ordeal. I have been suffering every hour and every day for the last two years because I was not able to travel home.”
As happened the incident, Rajan’s employer had bought a car on installments in his name for work-related purposes.
Few days after Rajan moved to Jeddah from Narjan to work in a different company. The work went on smoothly without any issue.
But the problem came into view, when Rajan wanted to return home for good. It came to his knowledge that he was under a travel ban and not allowed to leave the Kingdom without settling the unpaid amount for the car.
Adding further to his agony, his residency visa was also expired.
By the time, the firm he had worked with earlier in Najran was caught in the recession and was almost non-existent.
Finally with the support of the Indian consulate,the Keralite community in Jeddah came together to bail Rajan out. Futher, the Indian consulate also negotiated with the car dealer for leniency. The dealer amicably agreed to settle for a less amount than he had earlier demanded in the court.
Ultimately, after completing all legal formalities Rajan flew home last week.