VIJAYAWADA: EAS Sarma, a former Union expenditure secretary who has been involved in raising civic issues for the past several years, on Wednesday urged the centre to fly back the Indian expatriates in the Middle East, especially those from the two Telugu-speaking states, free of cost.
"It is a positive move on the part of the government to bring back thousands of Indians stranded in different countries as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. From news reports, it appears that they are required to pay the airfares, perhaps at subsidised rates," Sarma said in a letter to external affairs minister S Jaishankar and minister for civil aviation Hardeep Singh Puri.
"There are a large numbers of Indian expatriate workers in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman, who are also stranded, as they have lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and are not in a position to pay for returning home," the letter said.
Sarma suggested that the Centre, in consultation with the concerned states, including the two Telugu-speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, offer evacuation free of cost to all such wage earning expatriates, keeping in view that they had made significant contributions in the past to the country's foreign exchange earnings.
"I hope that the Centre will take up such a scheme urgently," he said.
"It is a positive move on the part of the government to bring back thousands of Indians stranded in different countries as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. From news reports, it appears that they are required to pay the airfares, perhaps at subsidised rates," Sarma said in a letter to external affairs minister S Jaishankar and minister for civil aviation Hardeep Singh Puri.
"There are a large numbers of Indian expatriate workers in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman, who are also stranded, as they have lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and are not in a position to pay for returning home," the letter said.
Sarma suggested that the Centre, in consultation with the concerned states, including the two Telugu-speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, offer evacuation free of cost to all such wage earning expatriates, keeping in view that they had made significant contributions in the past to the country's foreign exchange earnings.
"I hope that the Centre will take up such a scheme urgently," he said.
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