As many as 7 lakh emigrants have been registered with various Indian Missions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to return India. Coming to Andhra Pradesh, 30,000 people have registered themselves on the ‘APNRI’ website and around 1 lakh are waiting to return to their homes, says Overseas Recruiters Welfare Association secretary S.G. Vijay Kumar Nair.
Job loss
Referring to the report on “Telugus stranded in Dubai struggling to make both ends meet”, which appeared in these columns on June 1, Mr. Vijay Kumar Nair says International Labour Organisation (ILO) statistics suggest that an estimated 2 million Indians are likely to be rendered jobless in the GCC countries, a majority of those employed in oil and gas, and marine sectors.
All major companies in the GCC nations are either closed or running with skeletal staff as most of their projects have been completed and the future projects are on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlighting the lights of the Indians in the GCC countries, Mr. Nair says that a majority of the emigrants are single men living in congested labourers’ camps, using common toilets and rooms.
‘Poor living conditions’
“In single flat houses, nearly 10 people are using bunk beds in what is commonly known as ‘bed space’. If anyone contracts the COVID infection, it will spread fast. Loss of jobs, absence of social support, language barriers, and poor living conditions accentuate the inability of the emigrants to access public health facilities,” says Mr. Nair.
He appealed to the Central and State governments to evacuate the stranded Indians on a priority basis and increase the number of inward flights to help them return home.
