HYDERABAD: AICC national spokesperson Sravan Dasoju on Saturday demanded that the Telangana government bring back labourers stranded in the Gulf for free. He and TPCC’s NRI Cell convener Nangi Devender Reddy wrote an open letter to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar in this regard.
Addressing a press conference here, Sravan said the sufferings of the labourers worsened after the Covid-19 outbreak. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, there are more than 12-15 lakh labourers from Telangana, both men and women, in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, he said.
Also, it is estimated that nearly Rs 1500 crore worth of foreign exchange gets remitted to Telangana from these Gulf workforce every month, Sravan said. He said in these circumstances, the State government should coordinate with the Centre and bring back whoever wants to return to India free of cost. He also requested the State to make sure that after returning to Telangana, these workers are given the ‘Return, Resettlement and Rehabilitation’ package to help them settle in their native places with dignity.