Details
“Raju Vernekar
vernekar.raj@gmail.com
Despite much publicised “Vande Bharat Mission” (VBM) being implemented by the Union Government to evacuate Indians stranded abroad, over 200 Indians from North Eastern states remain stranded in UAE, due to heavy airfare and absence of direct special Air India flight to Guwahati, the biggest airport in the North East.
The expats from North Eastern states including Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, working mostly in hotels and Spas in Dubai and other cities, have become jobless from April onwards and are struggling to return to their native states. A majority of them are girls.
In April, Emirati authorities announced a complete lockdown of the country to stem the spread of the corona virus, including closing restaurants, cafes and malls. Migrant workers across the Middle East were adversely affected by the lockdowns and ensuing economic crisis due to the pandemic.
Although over a lakh Indians from other parts of the country returned to India and have landed in major cities including Mumbai and Delhi by nearly 160 flights up till now, those from North Eastern states continue to languish in absence of direct flight to North East. Since May only two flights from Kuwait and Russia landed in Guwahati. No direct or feeder flights have been arranged for expats coming from the N/E region.
More than 200,000 Indian migrants have registered to return home on VBM flights. But the flights from the UAE to India have disproportionately landed in southern Indian airports. Hundreds of migrant workers from India’s northeast await their golden ticket home from the UAE. The chief secretary of Manipur Suresh Babu, said that although the state government had made a special request to the central government, repatriation was entirely in the hands of the Union Ministry of External Affairs.
The passengers are being frisked at Dubai airport (file pic.)
At the behest of the “Purvanchal Pravasi Milan” (PPM), an outfit formed for cultural amalgamation of the people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand in UAE, the “SpiceJet” agreed to run a special flight to Guwahati from Dubai on 29 June, with tickets costing around Rs 26,000 per passenger. However, the number of tickets booked did not meet the expected number of 170 passengers and eventually the flight had to be cancelled.
Many had registered their names to travel by above special flight. However they could not pay the charges of tickets, due to shortage of money since most of them have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 pandemic and are temporarily staying with their friends. They were expecting support from their respective state governments, but no one volunteered to help, Leo Tharmi Raikhan, a Mumbai based activist coordinating the evacuation mission on behalf of the fellow North East Indians said.
A group of volunteers from the North Eastern states comprising David, Lovejoy, Ngayaomi, Angam, Bryan, Maro and Lian coordinated with PPM, to help the espats to return to their states. Subsequently a Zoom meeting led by David and Angam was also held in which the stranded groups voiced their concerns. Linda Newmai, a social activist from Nagaland who joined the meeting assured them that she would take the issue with respective state governments and the Central Government to ensure their return.
Ngaikhanching had to pay for both her flight from the UAE and for quarantine costs
in New Delhi.
Meanwhile the expats have created a What’s App Group to help stranded people to register themselves for the repatriation through the link http://www.purvanchalpravasimilan.com/repatriation-form/. They are hoping to get a sponsor to foot the heavy air fare.
Seeing that migrant workers from his region were left to their own devices, David Tusing, a Dubai-based journalist originally from Manipur, who too lost the job, began collecting small donations and delivering care packages of essential items to other UAE-based Indians in need. He also started compiling a list of expatriates from North East India stranded in the Gulf country, which he tweeted to state government officials in late May.
The expatriates from North East, who have managed to fly back to India, find themselves forced to quarantine for at least a week at their port of entry, instead of being allowed to transit through another flight back home. Ngaikhanching worked as an assistant manager in the UAE until she was made redundant in April, landed in Kolkata on 4 June, but was prevented from flying home to Manipur on the same day. She was told that she would have to pay for one-week quarantine in Delhi, for which she was shown a list of hotels. Eventually she had to spend close to Rs. 40,000 to return to Manipur and spend another two weeks in quarantine, in a government facility.
”
Raju Vernekar
vernekar.raj@gmail.com
“Despite much publicised “Vande Bharat Mission” (VBM) being implemented by the Union Government to evacuate Indians stranded abroad, over 200 Indians from North Eastern states remain stranded in UAE, due to heavy airfare and absence of direct special Air India flight to Guwahati, the biggest airport in the North East.”
“The expats from North Eastern states including Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, working mostly in hotels and Spas in Dubai and other cities, have become jobless from April onwards and are struggling to return to their native states. A majority of them are girls.”
“In April, Emirati authorities announced a complete lockdown of the country to stem the spread of the corona virus, including closing restaurants, cafes and malls. Migrant workers across the Middle East were adversely affected by the lockdowns and ensuing economic crisis due to the pandemic.”
“Although over a lakh Indians from other parts of the country returned to India and have landed in major cities including Mumbai and Delhi by nearly 160 flights up till now, those from North Eastern states continue to languish in absence of direct flight to North East. Since May only two flights from Kuwait and Russia landed in Guwahati. No direct or feeder flights have been arranged for expats coming from the N/E region.”
“More than 200,000 Indian migrants have registered to return home on VBM flights. But the flights from the UAE to India have disproportionately landed in southern Indian airports. Hundreds of migrant workers from India’s northeast await their golden ticket home from the UAE. The chief secretary of Manipur Suresh Babu, said that although the state government had made a special request to the central government, repatriation was entirely in the hands of the Union Ministry of External Affairs.”
The passengers are being frisked at Dubai airport (file pic.)
“At the behest of the “Purvanchal Pravasi Milan” (PPM), an outfit formed for cultural amalgamation of the people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand in UAE, the “SpiceJet” agreed to run a special flight to Guwahati from Dubai on 29 June, with tickets costing around Rs 26,000 per passenger. However, the number of tickets booked did not meet the expected number of 170 passengers and eventually the flight had to be cancelled.”
“Many had registered their names to travel by above special flight. However they could not pay the charges of tickets, due to shortage of money since most of them have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 pandemic and are temporarily staying with their friends. They were expecting support from their respective state governments, but no one volunteered to help, Leo Tharmi Raikhan, a Mumbai based activist coordinating the evacuation mission on behalf of the fellow North East Indians said.”
“A group of volunteers from the North Eastern states comprising David, Lovejoy, Ngayaomi, Angam, Bryan, Maro and Lian coordinated with PPM, to help the espats to return to their states. Subsequently a Zoom meeting led by David and Angam was also held in which the stranded groups voiced their concerns. Linda Newmai, a social activist from Nagaland who joined the meeting assured them that she would take the issue with respective state governments and the Central Government to ensure their return.”
Ngaikhanching had to pay for both her flight from the UAE and for quarantine costs
in New Delhi.
Meanwhile the expats have created a What’s App Group to help stranded people to register themselves for the repatriation through the link http://www.purvanchalpravasimilan.com/repatriation-form/. They are hoping to get a sponsor to foot the heavy air fare.
“Seeing that migrant workers from his region were left to their own devices, David Tusing, a Dubai-based journalist originally from Manipur, who too lost the job, began collecting small donations and delivering care packages of essential items to other UAE-based Indians in need. He also started compiling a list of expatriates from North East India stranded in the Gulf country, which he tweeted to state government officials in late May.”
“The expatriates from North East, who have managed to fly back to India, find themselves forced to quarantine for at least a week at their port of entry, instead of being allowed to transit through another flight back home. Ngaikhanching worked as an assistant manager in the UAE until she was made redundant in April, landed in Kolkata on 4 June, but was prevented from flying home to Manipur on the same day. She was told that she would have to pay for one-week quarantine in Delhi, for which she was shown a list of hotels. Eventually she had to spend close to Rs. 40,000 to return to Manipur and spend another two weeks in quarantine, in a government facility.”
