Dubai: Expatriates from the Indian state of Karnataka will now be able to take up their grievances back home through district-level welfare committees, the state’s chief minister, Siddaramaiah, said in Dubai on Friday.
District-level welfare committees for Non-Resident Kannadigas (NRKs), which were announced ahead of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Bengaluru in January, are now functional, said Siddaramaiah.
The chief minister was speaking after inaugurating the Karnataka NRI (KNI) Forum, UAE, at the Indian Consulate on Friday evening.
He assured full support from the government to the office-bearers of the KNRI UAE Forum, which is now an umbrella organisation of over 50 Kannadiga associations, clubs and groups in the UAE.
Speaking to Gulf News later, Arathi Krishna, deputy chairman of the state government-run Karnataka NRI Forum, said the district-level welfare committees will help families of NRKs, especially low-paid workers, back home in addressing their issues at the earliest.
“Now, they don’t have to travel all the way to Bengaluru to take up their concerns with the government. They can even raise them to their taluk’s tahsildar who is a member of the committee headed by the district commissioner in each district,” said Arathi, who also heads the high-level departmental monitoring committee for NRIs.
She said the Rs20 million allocated by the state government in the recent budget would be used for various NRK welfare plans. “We hope that the new forum formed here will help us to coordinate with expats here when they have any issues.”
Praveen Shetty, the president of the forum, said 54 leading associations, clubs and groups of Kannadiga expats have joined the KNRI UAE Forum. “We have formed a 37-member committee of office-bearers. We are hoping to receive official affiliation from the Karnataka NRI Forum of the government back home and we will be applying for the licence from the Community Development Authority in Dubai,” he said. The office bearers of the forum took the oath of office before the Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul.
An estimated 150,000 Kannadigas live in the UAE, said Prabhakar Ambalthare, the general secretary of the forum.
However, there had been no proper channel for the expats to take up their concerns and grievances with the government back home.
“Kerala has several welfare programmes and rehabilitation packages for the expats from the state. We also want our government to support us like that and this forum aims to do that,” Ambalthare said.
“There are many people losing their jobs in the UAE and other Gulf countries. We want the government to help them settle back home. Another major recommendation from our side is to stop the user fee and allow more airlines to operate to Mangalore airport where only two airlines are operating now.”
The community is also demanding NRI quota for their children in professional colleges in the state, he said.
The chief minister was accompanied by senior officials and prominent businessman B.R. Shetty. Hundreds of Kannadigas from different parts of the UAE and Gulf countries were also present at the event.
