IL and FS staff remain prisoners in Ethiopia while the bank raises the obstacle

NEW DELHI: After spending 50 days in captivity, Chaitanya Hari, an engineer with IL & FS Transportation Network Ltd (ITNL) in Ethiopia, was hoping to be released Tuesday to be home in time for his sister's wedding next week.

What had raised expectations for Hari and his three colleagues was Exim Bank's move to remove the block on ITNL's bank account. But the managers of the Ethiopian commercial bank refused to lift the block, further delaying the departure of employees who now have no money to buy food and live without electricity, as their employer refuses to transfer funds.

Initially, Sukhvinder Singh, Bishnu Nagaraju, Khurram Imam and Hari were held hostage in a camp while local workers asked the ITNL to cancel the quotas. When this was done, they required liquidation for 10 months, which has now been reduced to four months. This brings the bill to less than $ 200,000, which IL & FS has failed to pay for over a month.

At about 450 km in Addis Ababa, another three ITNL employees spent a few weeks in jail while the failed IL & FS group refused to cancel the tax fees by about $ 1.5 million. While two of the arrested employees are now out of the legal tangle, their passports have been taken away. A third, Chandra Sekhar, is out on bail and faces a travel ban, which will not allow him to return to India.

IL & FS employees in Ethiopia and India have blamed the government and claimed that the Indian embassy was completely ineffective. Sources said Tuesday the local authorities refused to come to their rescue unless IL & FS canceled employee quotas.

"It's just a matter of Rs 1 crore, but the company has refused to help out employees," said an ITNL employee who managed to return to India.

IL & FS Group and its various branches, including ITNL, are facing a liquidity crisis and are defaulted on various debt payments. IL & FS spokesman refused to comment on the matter.