The Andhra Pradesh government, through the AP Non-Resident Telugu Society (APNRT Society), has appealed to the United Arab Emirates to take care of the food and accommodation of many Indians who migrated to that country in search of livelihood and are now stuck there due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Venkat S. Medapati, Adviser to the A.P. Government on NRT affairs, in a letter to Harjeet Singh, Consulate General of India in Dubai, UAE, pointed to the fact that job loss due to the lockdown had deprived many Telugu migrant workers in the UAE of their livelihood. Hundreds of Indians migrate in search of work and settle in the UAE as blue-collar workers or domestic helps.
Mr. Medapati said that media reports suggested that many Telugu workers did not have shelter and had landed on the streets, especially in remote areas. Though small efforts were being made by other Telugus living there to give them food and water, it was far from adequate in this hour of crisis.
There was no way they could think of returning home because of the travel restrictions in the lockdown period. Stating that some of them were on the verge of starvation, Mr. Medapati urged Mr. Harjeet Singh to ensure arrangement of food and accommodation to the migrant workers from Andhra Pradesh who were in need of it at the earliest till the lockdown was lifted.
