Congress vows total support

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Uttam Kumar Reddy has announced his party’s strategy for 2019 elections on Gulf issues.

He promised Gulf workers and their families that the party would release `100 crore per annum in the budgets for the welfare of Gulf workers if voted to power in 2019.

“We shall provide `5 lakh ex-gratia to families of Gulf victims. Thousands of workers are falling sick due to adverse working conditions in Gulf countries and many of them return home due to ill health. There are several cases where migrant workers died within months after returning from Gulf countries. We promise that `5 lakh ex-gratia will be paid to the families of workers who die within a year of returning home. We will also introduce comprehensive social security for migrants, including life insurance, accident insurance, health insurance, pension besides return and resettlement package. The package will be drafted on the lines of Kerala and Punjab. We will fully activate the NRI Department,” he said.

Raising concerns over the death of Telangana workers in the Gulf, Mr. Uttam said, “Statistics reveal that on an average, five coffins arrive from the Gulf countries every day. This emphasises the seriousness of the problem. The TRS, in its manifesto for 2014 elections, made many promises for the welfare of Gulf migrants but, not a single promise has been fulfilled so far. The condition of workers in the Gulf has gone from bad to worse.”