In his 47 years in Doha, K.K. Usman, a Malayali businessman from Nadapuram in Kozhikode, has never seen his fellow expatriates so desolate and in despair.
After spending 45 days in home quarantine while he watched the mounting struggle of his fellow countrymen, Mr. Usman finally heaved a sigh of relief after the Indian embassy in Qatar confirmed his air tickets to home along with that of his eight months-pregnant daughter, who could not have flown out after May 24 owing to fitness reasons, and her three children. Their flight, initially scheduled for Thursday, was later postponed to Saturday.
He said that for a small country with a total population of just over 26 lakh, Qatar has been reporting on an average 900 positive cases a day with the total number of cases exceeding 18,000 so far. “For the past nearly two months, every Malayali organisation here has been distributing food kits to expatriates. It was painful to see otherwise independent people leading dignified lives dependent on those food handouts,” said Mr. Usman who runs a food distribution business.
He warned that there would be unprecedented job loss in the West Asian country and that businesses would have to start from the scratch.
He strongly deplored the exorbitant ticket fare of 800 riyals (₹16,520) collected from expatriates during such a crisis and that too for a service operated by a budget airline like Air India Express.
He said that he had travelled home for anything between 350 and 500 riyals during normal times. “It’s a shame for a country which had airlifted over a lakh of stranded people for free during the Kuwait war,” Mr. Usman said.
He said that the Indian Embassy, which had closed the registration for returnees after the number touched 40,000, had resumed it again. “But as of now, two flights, one each to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, have been scheduled from Doha with no disclosure on more flights. Considering that a flight carries only 200 passengers, one can imagine how long it will take to take the last stranded person home,” he said.