Fund set up to help distressed expats

NEW DELHI, JAN 13
The Government has set up a fund for the welfare of the overseas Indian workers in distress primarily in the gulf but also in other foreign countries with effect from January 1 to meet with the expenditure incurred on food, shelter and help in case of deaths.
 The Indian missions in all 17 countries where the emigration clearance is required will be able to provide help to the workers through the Indian Community Welfare Fund set up by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
The countries covered are: United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, Thailand, and Iraq.
The help to be provided through this fund includes boarding and lodging to unskilled labourers and those in household and domestic sector, expenditure on incidentals and for airlifting the mortal remains to India or local cremation/burial of the deceased overseas Indian where a sponsor is unable or unwilling to do so as per the contract and the family is unable to meet the cost; emergency medical care to the overseas Indians in need; air passage to the stranded and initial legal assistance in deserving cases.
The ministry is placing Rs 15 lakh each with the missions in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain and Malaysia and Rs 5 lakh each with the missions in other countries to help out the Indians, an official release here said.
The need to help out the overseas Indian workers was felt as they time and again approach the Indian missions on facing difficult living and working conditions after landing in the foreign land.
There are an estimated over five million Indians working abroad and a significant number of them are women, 90 per cent of them working in the Gulf. There have been a large number of cases of Indian workers not being taken care of by their sponsors or employers, forcing them to seek assistance from the Indian Missions.