Out of money, some struggle to find seats on flights from the Gulf

Sharjah passengers arrive at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow on Saturday night.

Trapped in the UAE without a job for the past 44 days, Harjinder Singh Gill (35) applauded the news that the Union government decided to return the stranded Indians from the Gulf region on 26 flights. But their hopes were dashed faster than they had arisen.

“I was pleased that the government had begun the evacuation of those who wanted to return home. But all my happiness vanished, as it takes at least Rs 25,000 for a ticket, ”Harjinder said by phone, adding that he has no money left. The 35-year-old man from the Gagewal village in the Tapa subdivision of Barnala had arrived in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, in January and started working as a trucker. He had worked for a month when his company closed on March 25 due to the pandemic. His days since then have been sitting idle in a room provided by his company that he shares with nine other Punjab youths.

“Doctors are asking people to keep their physical distance. But how can ten people curled up in a small room keep it? The coronavirus pandemic is spreading rapidly in the UAE and several of us are forced to live in dirty rooms or open sheds, while sharing common bathrooms, “he said.

Read | Vande Bharat Mission: 64 flights to bring back citizens from abroad, government announces ticket prices

In recent days, more than 4,000 Punjabi have already registered on a state government portal, in addition to others requesting directly from the Indian consulates, requesting that they be returned to India from the Gulf countries. But Harjinder, and many like him who have no money due to job loss and unpaid wages, are not among them.

Neither did Harpreet (26) and Harbhjan (43) of Nakodar in Jalandhar. Both are also stranded in Abu Dhabi without a job for more than 40 days. What’s worse, they claim they were not paid for several months of work done before the pandemic.

Gurjit Singh (33), a native of Kapurthala, also wants to return, but says he sees no hope until the governments back home take over the case of the stranded on unpaid wages.

Meanwhile, Harjinder said he had contacted Dubai-based SarbatDa Bhala, a philanthropic organization that has been rescuing several stranded Punjabi in Gulf countries and sending them home.

“The government’s move to send a couple dozen flights to the Gulf countries will not do much good, as many stranded Indians, including several Punjabi, who want to return are in a thousand rupees,” said Dubai hotelier SP Singh. Oberoi, who directs Sarbat Da Bhalla

In February, Singh revealed, he had sent 29 youths, including 19 from Punjab, five from Haryana, four from Himachal and one from Delhi after paying the fine amount (for their excessive stay) and bearing the cost of their ticket. Singh said he had been receiving emails regularly asking for help in moving. He shared one of those emails in which Punjab’s Amit Kumar (31) wrote that he, along with 20 others, was stranded in Abu Dhabi after his company fired them and kicked them out of the accommodation provided to them. All of them now want to return, but have no money.

A senior officer at the Indian Consulate General, Dubai, while speaking to The Indian Express, said that from Dubai and Abu Dhabi around 1.50 lakh of Indians, including Punjabi, have registered with the Indian consulate to return home. . The officer said that most of them were those who have not received wages in the past for 6 to 9 months and are unable to pay for return tickets. However, he stressed that only those who have emergencies would be sent back on these special flights, while others will have to wait for normal flights to begin.

Meanwhile, Oberoi said the government should quarantine all those being brought in from any country to keep cases under control in Punjab. The Dubai-based hotelier added that he had received reports that several Punjabi were dying in Gulf countries due to coronaviruses. .

Punjab man dies in Dubai

On Friday, his family performed the bhog of a Ludhiana migrant worker who had died of a coronavirus in Dubai.

Balwinder Singh (37) had died after falling from a high-rise building at Al Barsha in Dubai on April 16 while working at a height of 150 feet.

After his death, he was tested positive for COVID-19. His brother, Manjit Singh, who is a sarpanch from the Balliwal village in Ludhiana, said that after a long wait for his ashes, they performed his brother’s “Bhog” (last rites) instead.

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