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Kerala to discuss Gulf evacuation with centre By Sanu George, Indo-Asian News Service Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 19 (IANS) Kerala is to ask the centre for assistance in evacuating Keralites from the Gulf as war clouds gather over the region. Kerala Chief Minister A.K.Antony said after a cabinet meeting three ministers - M.M. Hassan, K.V. Thomas and M.K. Muneer - would travel to New Delhi for this. "They will leave shortly and would meet (Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee, senior ministers and other officials to ensure the centre helps all Keralites wanting to come back home," said Antony. "We are soon going to open control rooms here and in Delhi." A study conducted by the Centre for Development Studies here in 1998 found there were around 75,000 Keralites in Kuwait, while the total number of expatriates in the Middle East was around 1.3 million. Kerala, which went through a lot of emotional problems during the 1991 Gulf war, is presently in a tense mood. Several churches have been conducting special prayers in the hope of avoiding a possible showdown between the U.S. and Iraq. The Kerala economy would be severely affected by any conflict in the Gulf, as for the last three decades it has been dependent on remittances from expatriates in the Middle East. The 1998 study pointed out that close to Rs.10 billion comes into the state every month from expatriates. According to the study, while 17,688 people from various Middle East countries returned permanently in 1989, the number shot up to 37,206 in 1990 and came down to 20,128 in 1991. The increase during 1990 was attributed to the Gulf war. Hassan, the minister for non-resident Keralite's, said he had received information from Kuwait that several families have started returning. "I have been asked by Keralite organisations in Kuwait to pressurise the centre to operate more flights from there," Hassan told IANS. "These organisation told me that the Indian Embassy has already opened special counters for meeting any sort of emergency evacuation. We are doing everything possible to create a safe passage for our people. "We are in touch with the people in Kuwait everyday." During the evacuation that preceded the 1991 Gulf War, the Kerala government had deputed senior bureaucrat Rajiv Sadanandan to Amman to oversee the operations there. "At the moment we do not plan to send any officials to the Middle East," Hassan said. --Indo-Asian News Service _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
