By IANS
Hyderabad : With the Sep 2 deadline for deportation of all illegal immigrants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) approaching fast, the Andhra Pradesh government may request New Delhi to operate special flights to ferry its 40,000 workers stranded in the Gulf country.
The government is planning to take up ‘evacuation’ on a war-footing, similar to the one taken up to bring back workers from Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War.
About 5,000 workers have come back since the UAE government announced amnesty for those staying illegally, but 40,000 are still in the country.
Energy Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, who also looks after NRI affairs, has said the state government may request the civil aviation ministry to operate special flights to bring the workers home. The centre will also be urged to extend the facility of free travel to those stranded.
Shabbir will lead a five-member delegation to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for ensuring safe passage of workers stranded without proper documents.
The team will comprise a representative of the external affairs ministry, additional secretary to the government (protocol), N.V. Ramana Reddy and two senior officials from the immigration department.
The team is likely to leave for UAE in a day or two. “We will study their conditions and make arrangements for their travel back to India,” the minister told reporters.
“All efforts will be made to arrange for bringing back illegal immigrants who want to come back.”
The delegation will make efforts to convince all illegal immigrants to return as any one who stays back in UAE after the Sep 2 deadline will be arrested and jailed.
The delegation will also elicit views of the Indian embassy before submitting a report to Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who will then take up the issue with the centre to bring back the stranded.
The decision to send the five-member delegation was taken Tuesday after the chief minister reviewed the situation with top officials including regional passport officer Bala Bhaskar.
In June, the UAE government gave all illegal foreign workers three months to either become legal residents or leave without penalty.
The Indian embassy has issued 60,000 emergency certificates and renewed passports of another 20,000 people from India to enable them to obtain exit passes.
Most are largely unskilled or semi-skilled labourers from Andhra Pradesh, whose dreams of finding their fortunes in the Gulf have been shattered.