The Hindu : Front Page : An oasis in a desert A district bridging the gulf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 07, 2005

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Front Page

An oasis in a desert A district bridging the gulf

C. Jaishankar

RAMANATHAPURAM: In spite of many adverse conditions like drought, saline soil, erratic monsoon and other social problems, cost of living is going up in Ramanathapuram district as money from Gulf countries has flown into many households.

According to a rough estimate, at least 75,000 to one lakh people belonging to this district have migrated to countries like United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia and Singapore for jobs.

The practice of migrating to other countries started about four decades back when a group of industrialists including B.S. Abdul Rehman started their business ventures in United Arab Emirates. They recruited hundreds of unemployed youths for their concern. Soon, a few more people started various business ventures in the Gulf.

The practice, which was prevalent among Muslim youths initially, spread to other youths later on. At least one person from each house in semi urban areas and villages such as Kilakarai, Ramanathapuram, Panaikulam, Palankulam, Sayalkudi, Devipattinam, Erwadi and other Muslim dominated villages is in a foreign country. Though many of them prefer to settle abroad till their retirement, almost all of them visit their native villages now and then and invest their hard-earned money in acquiring permanent property.

This has led to spiralling of prices of land and other property. Though many areas in Ramanathapuram and Kilakarai have very little groundwater, the cost of land is almost equivalent to the cost of land in Coimbatore, Tiruchi and other leading cities.

The `foreign mania' is still picking up fast as Dubai-based Kilakarai companies have started wooing youngsters with lucrative pay package and good accommodation facilities. A Dubai-based Indian (Kilakarai) company, Emirates Trading Company ASSCON, which has employed 35,000 Indians, particularly Tamils, is looking for another 5,000 Indians for its multiple services in the Gulf, particularly United Arab Emirates as various industries, especially construction industry, have witnessed a boom in the last few months.

Graphics: Suresh

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