Singapore8217;s Indian work force faces deportation

8220;It is not that I do not want to pay the workers their full salary,8221; Das told The Straits Times. 8220;But with no new contracts coming in, I just don8217;t have the money to pay them. They threatened to run away.8221; Workers who abscond are bad news for their former employers, who stand to lose around 5,000 security deposit they pay the government when they hire foreign labourers. Some 20 private security firms in Singapore said they had repatriated more than 1,000 foreign workers in the first six months of this year 8211; five times thenumber they handled in the same period last year.

Contractors pay security firms between 150 and 500 for each worker they escort to the airport.

Unemployed foreign workers have become a growing problem in Singapore, with increasing numbers of them becoming vagrants or working illegally in the island republic. Many of the workers borrow around US 4,000 to pay agents in their home countries in order to find jobs in Singapore.

They hope to be able to repay the loan and save money, often toward buying property at home, after working in Singapore for about two years. Some of the workers run away when they are dismissed from their jobs before their contracts are complete, or without being paid full wages, because they have not yet saved enough to repay their loans.

8220;I am like a prisoner here,8221; 24-year-old foreign worker Pandiyan Chellan, who was being held by security guards in a Singapore apartment prior to departure, told the newspaper.

But the manager of the security firm holding Chellanargued that workers under the guards8217; care were given food and drinks, and even allowed to go shopping in Singapore8217;s Little India district, before being deported.