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There seems to be no end to the problems faced by Andhra Pradesh. First it was terrorism and now there is the problem of Gulf returnees committing suicide.
In all, around 45,000 illegal immigrants have been repatriated by the United Arab Emirates. While sources claim that at least 50 in AP have committed suicide after being deported, the government says that the official figure is just 10.
These people sure have had the tag of an non resident Indian. But sadly these are not the NRIs that we normally think of. Those deported hail from a very low strata of society. These people had borrowed money before leaving for the Gulf.
Most of them who hail from the Telangana district in Andhra Pradesh had worked in the Gulf as construction workers.
Their return was more of a disaster rather than a happy homecoming. Back in Andhra Pradesh, they were hounded by people who did not want to know about their problem. Instead they were pressurised by those who had lent money to them to go to the Gulf.
Take the case of Gangaram Dasari who committed suicide along with his wife who was a cancer patient. He had borrowed Rs 1,50,000 from moneylenders before going to Dubai.
In Dubai life was disastrous for this man. Not only did he not find a job, but he was also harrassed by the authorities for staying illegally before he was finally deported.
The case of Papuanna from Nizamabad is no different. He says that he has no option but to commit suicide. He had taken a loan of Rs 1,00,000 from a money lender before going to Dubai a year ago.
'The interest rate was very high and I was to pay almost Rs 1,50,000 on my return. I reached Dubai and realised that I had been cheated as there was no job available. The owners of construction companies were not prepared to give me work as I did not have the required documents and also no money to furnish as a bank guarantee. We spent days on the street on the outskirts of Dubai begging for food. Now I am back in the country and do not know what to do. The money lender is at my door every day in the morning and I really do not know how I am going to pay."
These people were stuck between the devil and the deep sea. Just look at the irony. They had to leave Andhra Pradesh thanks to the drought. They sold their lands, borrowed money and left for the Gulf only to be cheated by their travel agents. In a foreign land, they realise that they did not have jobs and worse, the required documents. Today they are back in AP with no money and worse, no land.
Says Subbu, one of the persons who had been deported, "I had big dreams of getting my daughter married and educating my son. Leave alone a marriage and education, I do not even have the resources to feed my family. I had 20 guntas of land which I sold before leaving for the Gulf. Once there the agent took my passport and showed me a place where I was supposed to work. The contractor of the construction company told me that I could not work because I did not have the required documents and at no cost were they willing to keep me there. For days I searched for my agent, but he had disappeared by then. The Rs 40,000 which he took from me as fees was also gone."
Minister of State for Energy Mohammad Ali Shabbir has taken the responsibility of rehabilitating the returnees. As a first step he set up the NRI cell. The cell aims as rehabilitating these unfortunate people. Shabbir says that they would be conducting job fairs and will also provide loans to these people.
But for these people it is not easy. The government will have to hurry up, says Krishna Reddy, a social worker who has been working for the cause of these people. The moneylenders are breathing down their necks and each day the interest on the amount borrowed is climbing he says.
Shabbir however adds that he is aware of the problem of moneylenders. "We will take action against those moneylenders who are harassing these people. We have already declared a moratorium on the recovery of loans for a period of two years," he said. Shabbir says that the NRI cell will also help in people becoming self-employed and all these schemes will roll out in good time.
However, on the ground level, the scenario is different with several moneylenders claiming that they are not even aware of the moratorium.
Officials in the NRI cell say that the issue has to be dealt with patience.
"We understand the plight of these people, but we have our hands full too. Things will fall in place and it is only a matter of time as the government is fully committed to the cause of these people," the official also said.