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Fund set up to help distressed expats
HERALD BUREAU
NEW DELHI, JAN 13
The Government has set up a fund for the welfare of the overseas Indian workers
in
distress primarily in the gulf but also in other foreign countries with effect
from
January 1 to meet with the expenditure incurred on food, shelter and help in
case of
deaths.
The Indian missions in all 17 countries where the emigration clearance is
required
will be able to provide help to the workers through the Indian Community
Welfare
Fund set up by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
The countries covered are: United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman,
Kuwait,
Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria,
Lebanon, Thailand, and Iraq.
The help to be provided through this fund includes boarding and lodging to
unskilled
labourers and those in household and domestic sector, expenditure on
incidentals and
for airlifting the mortal remains to India or local cremation/burial of the
deceased
overseas Indian where a sponsor is unable or unwilling to do so as per the
contract
and the family is unable to meet the cost; emergency medical care to the
overseas
Indians in need; air passage to the stranded and initial legal assistance in
deserving cases.
The ministry is placing Rs 15 lakh each with the missions in Saudi Arabia,
Oman,
Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain and Malaysia and Rs 5 lakh each with the missions
in
other countries to help out the Indians, an official release here said.
The need to help out the overseas Indian workers was felt as they time and
again
approach the Indian missions on facing difficult living and working conditions
after
landing in the foreign land.
There are an estimated over five million Indians working abroad and a
significant
number of them are women, 90 per cent of them working in the Gulf. There have
been a
large number of cases of Indian workers not being taken care of by their
sponsors or
employers, forcing them to seek assistance from the Indian Missions.
http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=15523&cid=2
