• Seven Indian employees of IL&FS Transportation Network Ltd have been held hostage by unpaid workers

• The Ethiopian Roads Authority says it is trying to negotiate with the company to resolve the crisis

Indian road construction workers are allegedly being held in captivity in different locations, Ambo Woliso Project, Nekemte Bure Lot 1 and Nekemte Bure Lot 3 after they stumbled into disputes with local workers over unpaid salaries.

Seven Indian nationals, who are employees of IL&FS Transportation Networks, a company engaged in the 257 km Nekemte-Bure road project, have been taken hostages by local staff for the last four days because of non-payment to creditors and salary to local staff, Neeraj Raghuwanshi, Highway Engineer at IL&FS and one of the hostages in Nekemte Bure Lot 1 said in an email sent to Ethiopia Observer. Raghuwanshi wrote that they are not allowed to go outside the camps to bring food, water or other items, as the local staff fear that once they leave the camp, they will not get their salaries.

IL&FS has won a contract in joint venture with Elsamex SA, a Spanish company, for improvement works and maintenance services of  Nekempte—Anger Gutin—Andhode road section (86.10 km) and  Agamsa—Bure road section (84.56 km) two years ago. Though delays outside of the project’s control have come up, completing only 13 km over the nine months last year, work has been continuing this year. However, the company has failed to pay its 500-600 local staff three months’ salary as funds have not been sent from its headquarters in India, Khurram Imam, another Indian held hostage in Nekemte Bure Lot 3 said. Harish Bandi and Bhaskar Reddy, two other nationals who are in Ambo Woliso Project confirmed the news.

Mr Raghuwanshi explained in the letter he and the other compatriots have been in discussion with the local staff, authorities of the Ethiopian Roads Authority, and Indian Embassy in Addis Ababa to find solution but to no avail.  In the latest meeting with officials of the Ethiopian Roads Authority, which was held on Tuesday, they were firmly told to make salary payments before discussing other issues, he said.

Neeraj Raghuwanshi also said they were told by the Indian Embassy in Addis Ababa that this was part of their fault as they have not notified earlier. The Embassy has written a letter to the management of the company in India and they are waiting for a response, and they told us they would act based on the response, he said. Reports coming from India about the IL& FS show it is in trouble and on May 21, it was reported it has defaulted on interest payments worth Rs 7.24 crore on non-convertible debentures (NCDs), payable on November 21, 2018.

“But for us the situation is becoming tense here. We are scared for our lives, either the local administration would put us in prison or the workers might take matter into their own hands,” Raghuwanshi said.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority public relations head, Samson Wondimu said the Authority made all payments required by the contract, but the Indian expats are held captive by the workers because the company did not pay them their salary. “We maintain that the employee’s salary has to be paid. On the other hand, we also believe that the Indians staff should not be held this way. We are discussing with the Indian Embassy and with the company’s officials in Addis Ababa to resolve the crisis,” he told BBC Amharic.

(Update: V. Suresh, Secondary Secretary Consular of the Indian Embassy sent an email saying that the Embassy has taken up the matter with the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

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