ITL group Managing Director and NRI Industrialist Siddiq Ahmed handing over bouquet to T.K. Manoj Kumar (IAS), Secretary of NORKA during a reception held in Dammam. (SG photos by Faisal Aboobacker Ponnani)Around two crores (20 million) Indian rupees have been allotted by the Indian Government for legal aid to expats, said T.K. Manoj Kumar (IAS), Secretary of Non Resident Keralites Affairs Department (NORKA) during an open house session with Kerala's expatriate community in the Eastern Province. He said that these funds can be utilized to pay blood money, ransom and fines for those expatriates who are imprisoned. NORKA was set up by the Government of Kerala in 1996 to address NRI Keralites' grievances and ensure their welfare. For the past four decades, thousands of Keralites have been working in various foreign countries including the Middle East. Out of two million Indian expatriates in the Kingdom, 75 percent are from Kerala. During the open house program held at the Paragon auditorium in Dammam, around 45 complaints and requirements were received by NORKA secretary, including legal problems concerning sponsors, huroob cases, the repatriation of Indian expatriates who are in Tharheel (deportation center), lost passports, delay in renewal of passports in Kerala during holidays, high admission fees demanded by higher education institutions from NRI students in Kerala and the allotment of more distance educational institutions in the Kingdom through various universities from India. There were also calls to open a consulate office in the Eastern province; more Indian embassy outsourcing service centers in various parts of the region; reduction in the recent hike in tuition fees at Indian schools in the Kingdom; implementation of the proposed budget airline Kerala Airline; appointment of more Keralite staff in the Jeddah consulate and embassy in Riyadh; more NORKA offices in the villages of Kerala; implementation of expatriate rehabilitation programs; pension schemes; health insurance programs; updated websites and appointment of Saudis in the embassy and consulate offices for job-related legal advice, translations and assistance. Manoj Kumar confirmed that NORKA has long term plans and objectives to rehabilitate those seeking to return home permanently. “There are special investment schemes, pensions and welfare activities and housing plans conducted by NORKA. The plight of many NRK workers is pitiable once they lose their jobs, as they have several family members who depend on them. Low income job seekers from Kerala who look for greener pastures abroad sometimes face a host of problems,” he observed. Kumar added that NORKA is conducting training courses for the new NRIs to boost their awareness of the host nation's culture, rules and regulations, job contract details, etc. He visited the Dammam deportation center and discussed various matters with Captain Nasser Mubarak Al-Dossary. He also visited the jail for women and was accompanied by the Indian Embassy's deputy chief of mission Manohar Ram and well known social worker Shihab Kottookad. Kumar appreciated the social worker's involvement and help rendered to Indian expatriates through Saudi authorities on behalf of the embassy. ITL travel group Managing Director and NRI industrialist Siddiq Ahmed and various Indian expatriate socio-cultural organizers also received Kumar.
