Indian airlines' charge to repatriate bodies from UAE painful
Abu Dhabi: An expat's death isn't just a painful experience for family back home but it turns out to be a harrowing one for friends, beloved ones or colleagues here in the UAE.
It takes a while to get the formalities of paperwork done and for an Indian expat, there is an additional cost for transporting the body back to India. Airlines charge between Dh16 to Dh25 per kg, which includes weight of the body and coffin.
MM Nasar Kanhangad, a social worker who has been helping with repatriation process for years now, said the practice is agonising and is a big challenge.
"In most cases where a blue collar worker is involved we will come to know of their death a day or two later. I will run for the paperwork and then we also need to raise money for the air tickets," Kanhangad said while narrating cases of the deaths of poor workers like Beeraka Pushpavati, a house maid, and Vipan Singh, a mould maker, where he had to seek help from the Indian Embassy and social welfare associations to meet the requirements.
"The charges vary from airline to airline. The overall costs range between Dh2,500 to Dh3,000. Friends of the deceased can barely manage the amount, which is equivalent to one to two months' of their salary. Indian government must look into this issue," Kanhangad said while highlighting the role played by the Indian Embassy to help the expats.
Indian Ambassador Navdeep Singh Suri noted that the embassy through its Indian Community Welfare Fund has been providing assistance to the needy.
"The embassy has been doing this on a regular basis for all those who can't afford. Be it embalming of the body, expense of coffin or air ticket, the embassy has always stepped in," the ambassador said.
Suri clarified that with the population of Indian expats in the UAE totaling to 3.5 million that it hadn't been possible for the mission to provide financial help in every case.
In this regard, Abu Dhabi-based social worker N Harikumar has been raising the issue at various forums for a while. "This is a painful thing. Majority of people cannot afford the costs. So, the Indian government must act," said Harikumar, who is India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's NRI Cell Kerala convener.
Meanwhile, BJP's Kerala president Kummanam Rajasekharan, on a short visit to the UAE, said that the issue has been raised with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On March 30, Rajasekharan met Modi and tabled the grievances of the expats. He is hopeful about the issue getting addressed soon.
"On Tuesday, I spoke to VK Singh, India's Minister of State for External Affairs. I have requested him that, just like how Pakistan bears the expenses for the bodies of the expatriates to be repatriated back, India too should take a similar step," Rajasekharan added.
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Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
