Kasaragod: Undocumented expat worker returns from Bahrain after 38 years

[email protected] (CD Network)
January 10, 2016

Kasaragod, Jan 10: Nearly four decades after he left Kasaragod and landed in Gulf, he could not return home till last week. 54-year-old Alambadu Balakrishnan who spent 38 years in Bahrain as an undocumented migrant worker returned home last Saturday under a six-month public amnesty for undocumented workers in Bahrain that ended on December 31, 2015.

balakrishnaBalakrishnan, who has been doing mundane jobs, did not go home even once as he was stuck without a passport and suffered from depression following the death of his mother and brother in the past.

Alambadu Balakrishnan, who hails from Kanjangadu, Madikkai in Kasargod, Kerala, was brought to Bahrain by his elder brother Kannan, who later fell sick due to cancer and returned home for treatment. His younger brother Kelu, too was in Bahrain, but he lost his job, leaving the responsibility of repatriating him to Balakrishnan.

“He used to send money to his mother till her death three years ago. When his friends visited Kerala, he used to send blankets and other gifts for his mother. He spoke for about one hour when his mother died and after three hours, he got another phone call informing about the death of his elder brother,” a Malayalam language has reported.

Balakrishnan’s ambition on returning home is to build a house and if anyone is ready to be his life partner at this age, he wishes to get married.

Over 42,000 expatriate workers in Bahrain benefited from the six-month general amnesty for workers staying in Bahrain illegally, the CEO of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority Ausamah Abdullah Al Absi has said. Bangladeshis, Indians and Pakistanis were the most beneficiaries of the amnesty.

Comments

Mohan
 - 
Sunday, 10 Jan 2016

we should blame our country for this injustice act,

jeevan
 - 
Sunday, 10 Jan 2016

lucky man finally get to his country

Mehaboob khan
 - 
Sunday, 10 Jan 2016

we should be thankful to saudi govt.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

Dubai, Feb 11: An Indian national has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in the UAE, bringing the total number of confirmed infection cases to eight, the country's health ministry has said.

The death toll in China's coronavirus outbreak has gone up to 1,016 while the confirmed cases of infection have soared to 42,638, Chinese health officials said on Tuesday.

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said on Monday that the Indian national was infected after he interacted with a recently diagnosed person.

"The Ministry of Health and Prevention announced today the eighth confirmed case of new coronavirus in the UAE, which is an Indian national who had interacted with a recently diagnosed person," it said in a tweet.

On Sunday, the ministry said that the two new patients, a Chinese national and a Filipino, had been diagnosed with the disease and were receiving medical care as per the highest health standards available in the country.

It said that all health facilities will continue to report any new cases suspected to have coronavirus.

Last week, a family of four who arrived from Wuhan for a holiday in Dubai were diagnosed with coronavirus. A fifth patient, who also arrived from the Chinese city, was confirmed to have been infected with 
the virus, but is reportedly in a stable condition.

China and countries around the world are scrambling to contain the spread of coronavirus which fiirst surfaced in Wuhan city in the Central Hubei province of China. Apart from China, two deaths have occurred in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Besides Germany, Britain and Italy, other European nations with cases of the virus include France, Russia, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Spain.

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News Network
May 5,2020

Bengaluru, May 5: The movement of migrant labourers from Karnataka to other states has stopped temporarily, as few North Indian states are yet to give consent.

Revenue Minister R Ashok said that the state government will convince labourers to stay back and ensure free food supply at their camps. "Even if we allow them to travel, they will be quarantined for 14 days as soon as they reach their native states.

The labourers don't know about this and some states have not yet given permission for their return," Revenue Minister R Ashok said.

According to sources in CMO, the decision to convince the workers to stay back came after several major projects - both government and private - were affected by the mass migration of labourers to their native districts and states.

Ashok, along with S Suresh Kumar, Primary and Secondary Education minister and head of the group of ministers focusing on migrant workers, also visited labourers who had gathered demanding that they be allowed to return.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa will chair a meeting tomorrow and instruct builders under CREDAI to pay pending wages of labourers, provide food supply and ensure their safety, Ashok said, adding that all construction work by BBMP will also be taken up to help the labourers.

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News Network
July 25,2020

Chennai, Jul 25: Two weeks after a 62-year-old widow accused him of harassment, including urinating outside her house, the Chennai Police on Saturday registered an FIR against ABVP national president Dr Subbiah Shanmugam.

Dr Shanmugam, Professor and HOD, Department of Surgical Oncology, Kilpauk Medical College and Government Royapettah Hospital, has been booked under sections 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule) and 427 (mischief causing damage) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Tamil Nadu Women Harassment Prevention Act.

The FIR was lodged exactly two weeks after the woman’s relative Balaji Vijayaraghavan filed a complaint with the Adambakkam police accusing Dr Shanmugam of harassing his aunt, who is living alone in her apartment following her husband’s death last year, following an argument over a parking slot. 

The action came after Vijayaraghavan alleged that the police were not filing an FIR due to the ABVP functionary’s “political connections.”

Dr Shanmugam and the woman were living in the same apartment complex in Nanganallur and an argument broke between them over a parking slot.

“He wanted to use our parking lot. We agreed but demanded a nominal charge for using it. He was outraged by our demand and even broke our signboard at the parking lot,” Vijayaraghavan wrote in his complaint.

He also alleged that Dr Shanmugam began harassing her by throwing “pieces of chicken” outside her apartment despite knowing she is a vegetarian.

CCTV footage corroborates with the allegations of urinating outside the residence of the widow. However, the ABVP called the incident as a “malicious and derogatory propaganda” by the Congress’ student wing of NSUI.

"The video shared by NSUI with an allegation of harassment is tampered with and is being used with malafide intentions. The two families have discussed this within their housing society and have already concluded that the harassment allegations were caused due to misunderstandings and are untrue,” ABVP National General secretary Nidhi Tripathi said.

Vijayaraghavan also alleged in his two-page written complaint that the ABVP national president had urinated outside the woman’s apartment gate and had been throwing garbage and used masks at her gate.

In his complaint, Vijayaraghavan also said the family was “concerned about her safety” while asking police to take action against Dr Shanmugam, who he says, “has a bad track record in maintaining rapport with neighbours.”

Also Read: ABVP national president accused of harassing woman, urinating at her doorstep

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