A third group of 17 migrant workers from Andhra Pradesh, who were granted amnesty for overstaying in the United Arab Emirates, returned home on Sunday. In the last one week, migrant workers had returned to the city, in two batches of 14 and 20, from the UAE.
Talking to reporters after receiving the workers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad along with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, NRI Affairs minister D Sridhar Babu said that the state government would extend all possible help to the returning migrants. Stating that the government had received a request for help from nearly 1,000 migrants stuck in the UAE, he informed the media that a team of officials has been assigned the job of helping them. He also assured that the government would provide employment to the affected workers.
Meanwhile, the Migrants Right Council, which had arranged tickets for the migrant workers through voluntary organisations and philanthropists, demanded that the Ministry of External Affairs prevail upon the UAE authorities to extend the amnesty period. Talking to media persons, Council president K Narasimham Naidu said that nearly 18,000 workers from the state were stuck in the UAE, and most of them could not apply for amnesty.
Of 200 Indians who applied for amnesty, 71 workers hail from Andhra Pradesh.
Ridiculing the state government for sending a delegation to Dubai after the expiry of the amnesty period of December 4 to February 3, the MRC said that the illegal migrants would now be forced to undergo mandatory imprisonment and pay penalty to return home. (INN)