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Amnesty deportees commit suicide
Two workers who took advantage of the recent UAE amnesty have committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh after being unable to pay off their debts, a visiting former member of parliament told Gulf News.
- By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:34 September 13, 2007
Dubai: Two workers who took advantage of the recent UAE amnesty have committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh after being unable to pay off their debts, a visiting former member of parliament told Gulf News.
"I confirm the suicides by amnesty seekers after they came back to their districts," said Jitendra Reddy, a former MP.
"In my opinion one of the reasons for the men to take such a drastic step is their incapability to take on the pressure imposed on them by money lenders.
"It was quite surprising for us to hear about the deaths," he added.
Feedbacks
Gulf News learnt Banoth Bhasker, an amnesty recipient from the UAE, committed suicide after going back home to his village in the Nizamabad district of Andhra Pradesh.
Chandra Naik of Tadkapalli Village also committed suicide.
The growing complaints by amnesty seekers on the lack of facilities provided to them by their state machinery led to teams being sent to the UAE to interact with community members to get a first hand feedback on steps that needed to be taken to facilitate their return.
This also includes the rehabilitation of scores of amnesty recipients returning to the state.
Andhra Pradesh community members in the UAE joined a local Telugu radio station and contributed to providing 100 amnesty seekers with free airline tickets.
A similar commitment was also made by the visiting Telugu Desam Party (TDP) team.
Prior to the opposition visit the state Non-Resident Indian minister Shabir Ali was on a three day visit to the UAE.
He held talks with the chief of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department on the subject of destroying the network of unscrupulous agents who make lucrative business by duping illiterate villagers through giving them employment overseas. Ali also held an interactive session with community members through a local Telugu radio station.
Topping the list of complaints the amnesty recipients had was the problems they endured in trying to reach their villages in Karimnagar and Nizamabad district once they landed in Mumbai from the Indian Airlines flight.
"Most of these workers belong to the Telengana area and are farmers who had to face months of drought," Reddy said.
Delegation
"The TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu had plans to send a delegation to the UAE about the amnesty," explained Reddy.
Naidu will also speak to the community through the local radio station.
"We will be going back to Hyderabad to apply pressure on the state government to provide chartered flights to bring our people back who are struggling to get airline tickets," added Reddy.
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