Indian States Conference debates rising airfares

The Indian States’ Conference organised jointly by the Indian Embassy (Abu Dhabi) and the Indian Consulate (Dubai) at the Indian Social and Cultural Center attracted participation from state governments, who sent their officials to discuss common problems confronting the Indian community in the UAE in the presence of leading diplomats, businessmen and Indian community leaders.

In three marathon sessions devoted to discuss various aspects of Indian community life in the UAE, a number of dignitaries, officials and community leaders discussed skyrocketing airfare during the peak seasons, lacunas in the welfare schemes for blue collar workers, problems facing expatriate students, rising suicide ratio, problems faced by the Indian community associations and labour and recruitment issues.

R Buhrill, Protector General of Emigrants at Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Anand Bardhan, Counselor, Community Affairs, Indian Consulate participated in the inaugural event.

The conference organized under the initiative of TP Seetharam, Indian Ambassador to the UAE,  with a theme, “Working Together: Improving Service Delivery” kick started a new debate about expatriate community issues, who expect solutions from the new Narendra Modi Government in New Delhi. About 300 delegates participated in the first such meeting which some speakers termed it a mini Pravasi Bharathi Day, an annual pravasi meet held in New Delhi.

Inaugurating the event, Dr Francis D’Souza, Deputy Chief Minister of Goa, said the conference gave him and his colleague Dr Wilfred Msaquita, Commissioner for NRI Affairs from Goa, an opportunity  to interact with the representatives of the Indian community in UAE in general and Goan expatriates in particular, who number about 25,000 out of 25 million Indians scattered all over the world.

Addressing a session on Welfare Measures, Indian Community Affairs Consul Anand Bardan, Y Sudhirkumar Shetty, Chief Operating Officer of UAE Exchange, Rajastan Department of Labour and Employment, Rajat Mishra and the Kerala Government  Non Resident Keralite Affairs (NORKA) Secretary Rani George, IAS, spoke about the challenges faced in the smooth implementation of various welfare measures.

Shetty said the doubling of airfare by various airlines during the peak season is seriously affecting the Indian community, especially the low salaried class workers, who are forced to travel when their annual or biannual vacation time coincides with the high fair season. 

“Each employer has an annual schedule for vacation and companies don’t change the same or give higher airfare as per the season. It is an issue that needs serious attention of airlines and the concerned officials,” Shetty said.

He said there is an urgent need to introduce saving schemes for low paid expatriates and training programme to encourage youngsters to take up assignments like plumber and electricians and other blue collar work.

The Rajastan Government official said the state is planning to open more passport centers to help increase number of workers migrating from the state and special schemes are being worked out for the welfare of overseas Rajastani community.

The Indian Ambassador TP Seetharam said various topics and opinions from the conference will be documented and forwarded to the concerned departments for further action and the initiative will continue next year too.

He said the Indian community associations which have contributed much to the charity drive and other community services will have to abide by the local rules and regulations, but he would liase with the local government about the serious concerns raised about their continuation.

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