By Hassan Cheruppa
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH – A leading Indian expatriate entrepreneur urged the chief minister of the southern state of Kerala to take a series of measures to ensure the welfare and rehabilitation of hundreds of thousands of expatriates working in the Gulf states in the wake of a possible mass exodus in the near future. In a memorandum presented to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently, Dr. K.T. Rabeeullah, chairman and managing director of Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Group, called on the government to create cooperative societies of Gulf returnees so as to enable them launch joint ventures and initiatives to make ends meet. He noted that around three million Keralites working in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states form a backbone of the state’s economy by playing a key role in the overall growth and development of the state.
Rabeeullah called for the launching of new social security measures for the Gulf returnees. His suggestions included an increase in the contributory pension scheme for the Gulf returnees, creating mini industrial zones for starting small enterprises, giving priority for their participation in the implementation of educational, health and construction projects, and addressing the issues facing expatriate students for their higher education. Rabeeullah stressed the need for strengthening the expatriate rehabilitation packages with a focus on overcoming handicaps in their effective implementation.
The Gulf-based medical entrepreneur and philanthropist called on the government to take vigorous steps to break the impasse over the acquisition of land for the much-sought after expansion of the Kozhikode International Airport as well as to resume operation of direct flights to the Saudi sector. “It is unfortunate that the ban on wide-body aircraft continues indefinitely even after the completion of the runway re-carpeting work. The state government has to take serious measures to foil the attempts of vested interests to clip the wing of Malabar’s only airport, which serves more than two million expatriates and their families living in the Gulf,” he said.
Rabeeullah also called for taking measures to find a permanent solution to the tendency of aviation companies to make exorbitant airfares especially during the peak summer vacation season.
Rabeeullah, a recipient of the prestigious ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Samman,’ the highest honor accorded to Indians overseas for their pioneering role in enhancing India’s image globally, urged the government to take stringent measures to curb cheating in the name of recruitment to the Gulf countries. “There have been thousands of victims of cheating and human trafficking at the hands of fraudulent recruitment firms and agents,” he said.
Rabeeullah called for taking effective steps to realize the long-cherished dream of expatriates to cast their ballots in elections back home by allowing voting rights for them. He also underlined the need for opening offices of the state-owned Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA) in all the six GCC states so that it can play an active role in redressing the grievances of those expatriates who are facing numerous problems.
