KOCHI: The state government is likely to
introduce chartered flights to bring in Keralites who want to return from the
UAE taking advantage of the amnesty declared there.
Immigrants from other countries who are staying in the UAE without proper documents can return if they are not involved in any criminal case, as per the two-month amnesty that began on December 4.
"We are considering chartering flights as a last option to bring in those Keralites who are staying in the UAE illegally if they are absolutely unable to pay their travel bills. A flight chartering company based out of the Fujairah airport in the UAE has agreed to operate flights to bring in Indians during the period. The company had operated chartered flights to India during an earlier Haj season,'' a top official of the non-resident Keralite affairs (NoRKA) department told TOI here.
The chartering company representatives had reportedly made this assurance during their talks with NoRKA officials who had visited the UAE last week to make arrangements for the return of Keralites under the scheme.
"At the current ticket prices, it will be possible to operate a chartered flight with a seating capacity of 120 at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. Each passenger fare would be around Dh600 (around Rs 7,800)," a state government official said.
The state government has also decided to bear the fee that the returning migrants have to remit to get out-passes, which will come to around Dh69. Help desks will be set up in the three airports in the state for providing assistance to the returning migrants, he said.
M K Lokesh, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, said the embassy had also written to the Indian government to waive that fee. "About 300 Indians had approached the embassy till Monday for returning to the homeland using the amnesty provisions. Over 35,000 Indians had returned when amnesty was declared earlier in the UAE in 2007But we have no idea how many would return this time, though the general impression is that the number would be less,'' he told TOI here over phone.
Lokesh said no other state governments had approached the embassy so far for making arrangements for the return of migrants.
The NoRKA officials said preliminary estimates indicated that around 5,000 Keralites staying in the UAE without proper documents were likely to return during the amnesty period.
Immigrants from other countries who are staying in the UAE without proper documents can return if they are not involved in any criminal case, as per the two-month amnesty that began on December 4.
"We are considering chartering flights as a last option to bring in those Keralites who are staying in the UAE illegally if they are absolutely unable to pay their travel bills. A flight chartering company based out of the Fujairah airport in the UAE has agreed to operate flights to bring in Indians during the period. The company had operated chartered flights to India during an earlier Haj season,'' a top official of the non-resident Keralite affairs (NoRKA) department told TOI here.
The chartering company representatives had reportedly made this assurance during their talks with NoRKA officials who had visited the UAE last week to make arrangements for the return of Keralites under the scheme.
"At the current ticket prices, it will be possible to operate a chartered flight with a seating capacity of 120 at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. Each passenger fare would be around Dh600 (around Rs 7,800)," a state government official said.
The state government has also decided to bear the fee that the returning migrants have to remit to get out-passes, which will come to around Dh69. Help desks will be set up in the three airports in the state for providing assistance to the returning migrants, he said.
M K Lokesh, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, said the embassy had also written to the Indian government to waive that fee. "About 300 Indians had approached the embassy till Monday for returning to the homeland using the amnesty provisions. Over 35,000 Indians had returned when amnesty was declared earlier in the UAE in 2007But we have no idea how many would return this time, though the general impression is that the number would be less,'' he told TOI here over phone.
Lokesh said no other state governments had approached the embassy so far for making arrangements for the return of migrants.
The NoRKA officials said preliminary estimates indicated that around 5,000 Keralites staying in the UAE without proper documents were likely to return during the amnesty period.
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