DEMAND FOR GULF WORKERS WELFARE PANEL

IN

DURGA PRASAD SUNKU I DC Activists working on behalf of Telangana state natives working in the Gulf are demanding that a welfare board for the workers be set up which would help in the rehabilitation and reintegration of workers returning from Gulf countries by providing them financial assistance. Legal aid for Gulf workers languishing in foreign jails is another demand.

There are around 13 lakh expatriates from the state living in Gulf countries and they have been sending about `18,000 crore every year in remittances

An institutional mechanism like in Kerala is essential for assessing the skills of the returning migrants and employing them or supporting them to become self-employed.

The Kerala government has established the Kerala Pravasi Welfare Board to look after such workers. The project envisages providing a capital subsidy of 15 per cent of the total project cost as a backend subsidy and three per cent interest subvention to eligible entrepreneurs among returning emigrants who wish to start their own ventures in the field of agribusiness, training, services and manufacturing. Speaking to Deccan

Chronicle, Mr M. Bheem Reddy, president of the Emigrants Welfare Forum, said, “The people who are returning from the Gulf are skilled labourers whose skill is of international standards. But they are not getting an opportunity to utilise their skills and work experience. It is important to realise their potential and tap into the resources.”

“We are asking for an alloaction of `500 crore in the annual budget for Gulf workers’ welfare. It is the state government’s responsibility to take care of their welfare,” Mr Reddy added.

A few months ago, Mr Reddy urged Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to look into the issue of a migrants’ welfare board.

Mr P. Narayana Swami, president of the Migrants Rights Council said, “There is a board for building and other construction workers’ welfare. As most of the Gulf returnees are construction workers, they should also be included in the welfare board.”

Earlier, during the Congress government’s tenure, the state government used to give `1 lakh as compensation to those who returned from the Gulf and also to family members of people who died in the Gulf, added Mr Swami.

Though the TRS promised to look after the welfare of Gulf migrants in its election manifesto in 2014, it did not implement it.