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HomeCoronavirusUAE's Indian expats frustrated over repatriation plans

UAE’s Indian expats frustrated over repatriation plans

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Indians in the UAE have voiced scepticism about a “massive” operation announced by New Delhi to bring home some of the hundreds of thousands of nationals stranded by coronavirus restrictions.

“It is just propaganda,” said Ishan, an Indian expatriate in Dubai, one of seven emirates in the UAE and long a magnet for foreign workers.

He was reacting to his government’s announcement this week that it would deploy passenger jets and naval ships to bring home citizens stuck in a host of countries.

India’s consulate in Dubai said it received about 200,000 requests from nationals seeking repatriation — mostly workers who have lost their jobs in the pandemic.

One vessel was heading to the UAE, India’s government said, while two flights were scheduled to depart the UAE for India on Thursday.

But the plans drew scorn from Ishan, who was a manager at a luxury services company before he was made redundant last month.

“It’s like throwing a dog a bone,” the 35-year-old complained on Wednesday, dismissing the Indian government’s efforts as a drop in the ocean.

“Let’s say they repatriate 400 people on the first day, and about 5,000 people in 10 days, what difference has it made?”

India banned all incoming commercial flights in late March as it imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to tackle the spread of coronavirus, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers and students stranded abroad.

The UAE is home to a 3.3-million-strong Indian community, who make up around 30 percent of the Gulf state’s population.

To the anger of some Indian expatriates, the evacuees will have to pay for their passage home and spend two weeks in quarantine on arrival.

“We are upset over the failure of our government,” Ishan said. “What about the people with no money? How are you helping them?”

The Indian consulate could not be reached for comment.

Ibrahim Khalil, head of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Center in Dubai, said the consulate had asked him to select 100 Indian nationals for repatriation.

“We are planning to pay for the tickets of those who cannot afford it,” he said, adding that the elderly, pregnant and those suffering from illnesses were a priority.

But one Indian woman, eight months pregnant in the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah, was not one of the lucky ones chosen to go back home in one of Thursday’s planned departures.

“We called them but nobody would pick up,” the 26-year-old, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

She arrived in the UAE a few months ago to visit her husband, who lives in a shared apartment with another family to save money.

“We have no insurance here and the medical expenses are too costly,” said the woman, who was anxious to leave to give birth at home.

“I just hope that I am chosen to go back to India. I don’t know why I haven’t been considered.”

Under the first phase of the mass effort announced on Tuesday, two ships were heading towards the Maldives to evacuate some 1,000 Indian citizens while another was headed for the Gulf.

A flight from Qatar for the southern state of Kerala originally scheduled for Thursday was postponed to Saturday, local media reported. No reason was given.

In total 26 flights will bring Indians home from the Gulf region, while others will operate from Southeast Asia, Britain and the United States.

The civil aviation ministry blamed the crashing of its website on “unprecedented traffic” and urged people to check the website of Air India, which is operating the flights, for details.

Kerala is the biggest source of Indians in the Gulf.

OV Mustafa, the director of Norka Roots, a state government welfare body for non-resident Keralites, told AFP that those abroad were “desperate” and in a “panic”.

The Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi said on Twitter that all passengers would be screened for virus symptoms and given an antibody test at the departure airport.

There were also concerns about social distancing on the flights, with the Times of India quoting Puri as saying that keeping middle seats vacant on the aircraft was not viable.

The Indian embassy statement said that passengers would be given masks, gloves and sanitisers to wear and use on board.

Upon arrival, passengers are set to be quarantined for a minimum of 14 days, presenting a large challenge to already stretched Indian authorities.

Kerala’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the state was “fully prepared” and that “all arrangements are in place for testing and quarantining”.

In the first five days, 2,250 people are expected to land at the state’s airports in Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. Kochi port was also set to receive all three ships.

Vijayan said that 442,000 people wanted to come back to Kerala, and that the central government had “only” approved the return of 80,000.

The government has come under fire because those being flown back have to pay, with prices reportedly ranging from 12,000 rupees ($160) for a ticket from Dubai to 100,000 rupees to fly back from the United States.

A huge number of Indians who work abroad do menial work and have been left jobless by the pandemic shutdown.

The oil-rich Gulf is reliant on the cheap labour of millions of foreigners — mostly from South Asia — many of whom live in squalid camps far from the region’s skyscrapers and malls.

Prominent Indian opposition politician Shashi Tharoor said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that many could “ill afford” to bear the costs.

A. Jemford, who works for the non-profit Agaram Foundation in Tamil Nadu state, tweeted that the repatriation effort was “only for the rich”.

One Indian man in Sharjah in the UAE whose wife is six months pregnant told AFP that he registered with the consulate last week but has heard nothing since.

“I don’t have medical insurance to cover the delivery costs here so I wanted to get her back home to Kerala to her parents. And she has complications in her pregnancy,” said the man, who did not wish to be named.

“It’s been a week and we haven’t heard anything,” he said, adding he could only “sit and pray to my God.”

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