Kerala rehab package for returnees soon

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Kerala's Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government will come out with a comprehensive package within a month for the rehabilitation of expatriates, who are forced to return from abroad due to various reasons. Non-Resident Keralites Affairs Minister K C Joseph disclosed this while responding to a notice for an adjournment motion over the reverse exodus migrants from Gulf countries as a result of the implementation of the naturalisation of the work force in the state assembly on Friday. The opposition did not press the notice for the motion given by K V Abdul Khader of the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPM) following Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's assurance that the government would find time for a special discussion on the issue later. Moving the notice for the motion, the CPM legislator said the situation in the Gulf, where nearly 2.5 million Keralites work, had turned alarming after Kuwait followed Saudi Arabia in implementing the naturalisation programme. He said that a large number of Indians in Kuwait were not able to move freely in the public due to the action initiated by the authorities against alleged illegal residents. He said many were trapped inside their houses there without even food. The legislator said that a large number of Indians, who are ordered to leave Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, were not able to return to the country. The state and federal governments have failed to provide any assistance to them to return. He accused the government of taking the issue lightly. Khader termed shameful the statement of Federal Overseas Indians Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi that the government was not aware of the issues. The minister, who visited Saudi Arabia last week to take stock of the situation there, said the situation in the Gulf countries was not as alarming as it was made out by the opposition. He said that the government was taking steps to find a solution to the problem. The minister said the rehabilitation package drawn by a ministerial sub-committee headed by him was in the final stages. He said that the package will be finalised within a month and implemented immediately thereafter. Joseph said the state government was also planning to create job opportunities for the skilled returnees. He had said earlier that the estimates that more than 100,000 Keralites may return from Saudi due to Nitaqat were wide off the mark. According to him, only over 5000 people from the state have registered for leaving the country. Curiously, a current Norka rehabilitation scheme has not evoked any response from the return migrants. The scheme called Norka Department Project for Return Migrants seeks to provide a financial, technical and management support to the returnees to set up self-employment ventures.