Thursday, August 25 2005 16:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dubai: India has blacklisted 11 Qatari companies and put 35 others on a watch list for mistreating its nationals working in the country.

The 11 firms have been removed from the Indian embassy's prior approval category Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) in Qatar and will not be entitled to employ Indian workers any more.

The firms include engineering, construction and contracting, garment manufacture as well as manpower recruiting agencies, an Indian official told the Peninsula newspaper.

The official said the Ministry of Labour in New Delhi has been notified.

Companies on the watch list are to be observed over a period of time and if they improve their track record of treating their Indian employees well, they could be removed from the watch list.

The blacklisted companies as well as those on the watch list have defaulted in paying salaries and other benefits to their Indian workers.

The accommodation and in some case, the food they provide to workers, are 'sub-standard', the official said.

The embassy has collected evidence from a number of unskilled and semi-skilled Indian workers who have paid sums ranging from Rs 45,000 to Rs 75,000 to manpower agencies back home to get jobs in Qatar.

On Monday, 93 Indian construction workers in Qatar were allegedly thrown out of their labour camps by their employers after they lodged a complaint with the Indian embassy about non-payment of salaries.