Alarming pace of suicides in the Indian community

Suicide by an Indian entrepreneur, who was in the mid-40s, on Tuesday in a Doha villa has come as a rude shock to the community, which has seen a total of nine members ending their lives in a span of 53 days.The person was running an engineering firm on the Airport Road which he set up five years ago on his arrival from Bahrain. He had reportedly run the establishment well in the initial years after landing a number of good contracts.However, over the 18 months the company's financial fortunes dwindled and there was an acute fall in the money flow when clients reportedly failed to pay the firm on time for the works executed.The situation made the operator a debtor from which he could not recover and the worst occurred when he was found dead in his house on Tuesday, near Gold Gym in Al Hilal area.The person's wife had recently lost her contract job when her employers downsized their establishment. The couple has three children, the eldest still to reach teens.Some of their friends said they never thought the man would ever resort to such an extreme action in any circumstances as they were under the impression that he was bold and capable of taking his company out of the woods using his enormous contacts in the engineers community. He had sourced sizeable funds from outside to run his business impeccably but that did not help, recalled a friend, who is currently heading an expatriate forum in which the deceased was an active member.The individual was good enough to grant release to many of his staff over the recent months when he found his business was going through difficult times. "Of the six people left recently, five got jobs," said a friend of the entrepreneur.A close friend of the victim said though the person was far from happy and comfortable in recent weeks, he never let many others know about his financial issues.Another Indian who ended his life recently, was an employee of a prominent firm after his services were terminated by employers as part of the downsizing in their company. He was in his early 30s and left behind a young widow and two small children. He had reportedly owed huge loans to a local bank.Reacting to the spate of suicides a psychologist said their group would be able to help people who faced similar financial issues in a big way.When queried about the developments, Indian ambassador Sanjiv Arora said the embassy is reviewing the situation and exploring some practicable options with the help of its affiliated bodies to help those passing through similar conditions.While replying to a query from Gulf Times, Indian Community Benevolent Forum president Arvind Patil said it is a serious issue which needs to be addressed to effectively.Since the beginning of 2016, at least two Nepalese and one Sri Lankan expatriates ended their life in Qatar, according to sources in the respective communities.There were at least two suicides in the Sri Lankan and Nepalese communities as well at the start of the year, it is understood.