Through the online registration process to the Indian missions in United Arab Emirates over 150,000 Indians, applied to return home amid the coronavirus lockdown, according to media reports.
The Indian missions in the country last week opened online registration for the expatriates who wish to fly back home after getting stuck in the country amidst the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. “As of 6 pm on Saturday, we received more than 150,000 registrations. A quarter of them wants to return to their homeland after losing their jobs ” Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul told the Gulf News on Saturday.
According to a report in the Khaleej Times on Sunday, about 40 percent of the applicants who have registered are blue-collared workers and 20 percent are working professionals. “Roughly 20 percent have suffered job losses and about 55 percent of the total applicants are from Kerala,” Neeraj Aggarwal, Consul, Press, Information, Culture was quoted as saying in the report.
Aggarwal said that the figures would change as they are expecting registrations from workers from other states, including Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. About 10 percent of the applicants are visit and tourist visa holders who got stranded here due to the ongoing lockdown in India. India extended the ongoing lockdown by two weeks from May 4 to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has affected nearly 40,000 people in the country. Aggarwal said that a small number of applications constitute those from pregnant women and other medical cases. — PTI
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