The Telangana government on Friday urged the central government to ban recruitment of domestic maids for the Gulf countries.

State Panchayat Raj and Information Technology Minister K. Tarakarama Rao on Friday met top officials of the external affairs ministry in New Delhi and brought to their notice the plight of labourers, especially the exploitation of domestic maids from the state, working in Gulf.

The minister told reporters after the meeting that domestic maids were working in pathetic conditions and that they were being forced to commit suicide due to the inhuman treatment by their employers.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, said the central government should act firmly in the matter. He said the state would support any move to amend the rules to ban recruitment of domestic maids.

He also urged the ministry to take necessary steps to help the workers from the state facing various problems in the Gulf countries.

Andhra Pradesh's Social Welfare Minister R. Kishore Babu also met the officials of external affairs ministry to bring to their notice problems faced by workers from Andhra in the Gulf countries.

Meanwhile, the main opposition Congress party in Telangana alleged that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government is shedding crocodile tears on the issue of Gulf migrants in view of Nov 21 by-election to Warangal Lok Sabha constituency.

Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said that the state government did nothing on the issue for last 17 months.

According to him, of the nearly 10 lakh people from Telangana working in Gulf countries, about 12,000 of them are languishing in prisons on various charges. He also claimed that 400 workers from the state had so far died in these countries.