The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : 167 expatriates hailing from A.P. back in Hyderabad

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Sunday, Nov 04, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

167 expatriates hailing from A.P. back in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: As many as 167 passengers, including several women aboard a special flight from Dubai, heaved a sigh of relief as the Air India aircraft touched down at the Rajiv Gandhi international airport here at 5.30 am on Saturday.

Emotional scenes were witnessed, as the passengers, all of them staying illegally in United Arab Emirates (UAE), came out of the airport to a tearful reunion with their near and dear ones. They were mostly from Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Adilabad, Nalgonda and East Godavari districts. But for the timely help from the State Government, they would have ended up in UAE prisons for overstaying.

Energy Minister Md Ali Shabbir who looks after the NRI affairs in the State visited Dubai and escorted back 167 persons. The Government has spent a whopping Rs. 1.30 crore to bring back 1,256 illegal expatriates by arranging special flights from Dubai and Sharjah.

Mr. Shabbir told The Hindu that out of 75,000 Indians staying illegally in UAE, 40,000 hailed from Andhra Pradesh. “A majority from the State have returned but a few were left behind as they had no money to come back. The Government then stepped in to provide them air tickets,” he said. “In the last three days alone, 8,000 persons from Andhra Pradesh arrived in Mumbai, Nagpur and Hyderabad airports by special flights,” Mr. Shabbir said. Adilabad Collector was instructed to arrange for two special APSRTC buses from Nagpur airport to Nizamabad and Karimnagar. Mr. Shabbir said four Telugu-speaking officials from the Regional Passport office, Hyderabad and two others from Indian Consulate, Jeddah, were sent to Dubai to conduct a camp to identify the people from Andhra Pradesh. Three officials from the State Government, including Special Chief Secretary (Finance) P. Ramakant Reddy, helped them.

Action plan

The Minister said the Government had prepared an action plan to provide them employment opportunities in major construction companies such as GMR, Lanco, Maytas, KMC, GVK and Nagarjuna by holding job melas.

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