Gulf awareness drive 'in Indian rural areas is a must'

Dubai: Providing employment to the poor in rural areas in India will solve many of the problems faced by blue collar workers in the Gulf, said Yash Sinha, Indian Consul General, Dubai.

At a seminar of Gulf NRIs from Andhra Pradesh at the World Telugu Federation's (WTF) 7th biennial in Dubai, Sinha said, "With the cost of living rising drastically, the attraction of working in the Gulf has been waning".

He said most of the people from the south Indian state come on visit visas in the hope of finding a job and later end up as illegals.

He said awareness campaigns should be launched in rural areas from where most of these blue collar workers come about the ground realities in the Gulf job market and nefarious activities of recruiting agencies.

Sinha said the suspension of ECR (Emigration Check Required) on the passport has been much abused in India for those coming on visit visas.

"This problem can be minimised if the immigration officials insist on sponsorship declarations attested by Indian consulates," he said.

Sinha suggested the appointment of a pointman in Hyderabad at the state Secretariat who can get in touch with District Collectors in cases where the illegals' identity need to be verified to issue the outpasses.

K. Kumar, Chairman Indian Community Welfare Committee (ICWC), Dubai, also stressed this point.

Mohammad Ali Shabber, Andhra Pradesh Minister of Information and Public Relations and chairman of the state NRI Cell, said new ration cards would be issued to people on which their NRI family members' names would be included after being approved by village authorities.

"This will help check their identity in case of a lost passport," he said.

Actor Chiranjeevi 'electrifies' audience

Manisharma's musical night at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday was a sell out. The presence of actor Chiranjeevi further electrified the proceedings. The actor spoke about his philanthropic work Chiranjeevi Blood Bank and Eye Bank.

He handed over a cheque for Dh100,000 to Indian Community Welfare Community Chairman K. Kumar on behalf of the WTF.

The Padmabhushan award winner also gave away a gold bracelet worth Dh3,000 presented to him by Rasamayi cultural association to ICWC.

The ICWC in turn put it up for bidding via SMS. The highest offer of Dh25,000 was made by Hanumanth Reddy of Diplomat Engineering.