VIJAYAWADA: For over a month T Punnasekhar has been awaiting a response from Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia and Union External Affairs Ministry approving his request to fly back to India.The 27-year-old is one of the 39 Indians — 18 of whom are from Andhra Pradesh — stranded in Rabigh, a city in the West Asian country, after restrictions on international and domestic flights were imposed in India.
Despite the Indian government undertaking the Vande Bharat and Vande Mataram missions to bring back Indians stranded abroad, the motley group of engineers working for Gulf Quality Control Company have had no luck.
“We took the help from one of the advocates to register at the Indian Embassy and on the ministry’s website. But so far we haven’t received any response from any of them. When we tried to write to Indian government on another website, that page directed us, again, to the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia,” Punnasekhar sighed.
The group had gone to Saudi Arabia on February 15 and their work stopped on April 30. “We got to know that some virus has spread and India is not allowing anyone to come back. So we started trying to get back even before our work stopped,” he added.
The employer, on the other hand, is ready to send them back. However, he said his hands are tied as the embassy has not been responding. “Our boss gave us Rs 1 lakh as we worked for 45 days. Of this, almost Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 we had sent to our home. So we were left with hardly any money. On April 30, our boss gave us 2,000 Riyals (Rs 40,380) and asked us to find a place to stay. After paying for room rent and spending money on food each, we are left with a maximum of 1,000 riyals each. If we are not sent back to India, we will run out of money within a week and won’t have any to pay for flight tickets. The rules are so strict here we won’t be able to stay on the roads also,” he said.
The group requested its employer to pay for their flight tickets, which, he said, he will decide once the arrangements are done. About 18 residents of Andhra Pradesh hail from Visakhapatnam, Krishna and Parakasam districts.
When TNIE approached the State government, Additional Secretary MEA, AP Harish took note of all the details of the group members. He said, “We have communicated the details to Indian Embassy there. They have acknowledged our communication and have responded saying the officials are working on repatriating them.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Special Task Force Chairman MT Krishna Babu said, “We don’t mind to receive all the 39 members of the group despite knowing they belong to different States. Once they come back to India, it won’t be difficult to send them to their respective States.”Meanwhile, Vijayawada is all set to welcome the first flight from Saudi Arabia on May 20.
State-wise division of group members
Andhra Pradesh-18
Tamil Nadu - 7
Uttarakhand-1
Telangana-1
Odisha-1, Bihar-7
Uttar Pradesh-1,West Bengal-3