New Delhi: While the danger of the coronavirus pandemic has significantly diminished, the Saudi embassy in new Delhi allegedly takes “extra precautionary safety measures” – all at the cost of the poor labourers who are made to pay extra amounts for document senitization. Interestingly, the Saudi Consulate in Mumbai is not doing any such things under  the Covid-19 protocols.

“We don’t expect such an unfair deal from the Saudi embassy . We hope the Saudi government will take notice and stop it at the earliest,”  said Javed, an electrician who had to go through a document senitization process in New Delhi.

According to sources, the centers approved by Saudi embassy are charging 1000-1500 INR for a person travelling to the Kingdom for any purpose in the name of document senitization. They charge Rs 450 for the passport and Rs 90 for each paper for sanitization , which gave a hint of a huge scam under the patronage of the Saudi embassy, New Delhi in the name of passport/visa sanitization.

“We had to pay Rs 3,500 extra for document senitization,” said Tabassum who was going to Saudi Arabia with her husband and three children.

Almost 150-200 job seekers go to Saudi Arabia daily from Delhi,  all of them have to get their passports/ documents sensitized  by senitization centers assigned by the Saudi embassy.

Saudi Arabia is known for its charity work across the globe specially in Muslim countries, but its Indian diplomats are allegedly involved in extracting money from poor labourers without the knowledge of the Saudi government, said a source.  Some travellers say the Saudi embassy in  New Delhi is strange. It is disgusting and an open case of corruption.

Notably, it’s scientifically proven that the Covid virus doesn’t infect papers. It thrives only on live cells of human beings. That’s why no Embassy/Consulate including US or European countries made document senitization mandatory and no  such “Covid-19” protocols are being imposed by any embassies/high commissions situated in Delhi.