With Saudi's new travel restrictions, stranded Indians in UAE awaits relief from their plights
Dubai: Awaiting relief from the government and authorities of India and Saudi Arabia, hundreds of Indians are stranded in Dubai after Saudi Arabia announced a temporary ban on non-citizens’ entry into the kingdom from 20 foreign countries.
Saudi Arabia announced the restriction after the kingdom witnessed a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. Saudi-bound Indians who were eager to finish their 14-day quarantine in Dubai in order to enter the country are now hit by uncertainty due to the sudden ban.
The passengers had arrived in UAE after the restrictions imposed by Saudi stated foreigners can't enter until they undergo a 14-day quarantine in any of the neighboring countries like UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, etc.
Ever since the imposition of the restriction, passengers are left high and dry in UAE with neither the Indian nor Saudi government authorities paying heed to their hues and cries. Most of the passengers who fall into the ‘blue-collar employees’ are now running out of finances and resources to afford an extended stay in Dubai.
PA Hameed, an advocate and social worker in Riyadh, has written a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar seeking his intervention and has also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in multiple tweets to bring the issue to his notice.
The letter says those stranded include families, children, and pregnant women. "Some Indian residents in Saudi Arabia who traveled to Dubai a couple of days back to fetch their families and relatives are also stranded due to the sudden development. All of them are in a hapless situation and are pleading for immediate help from the Indian government," it said.
Recently, both Indian Embassies in UAE & Saudi Arabia issued an advisory to the people stranded in Dubai to return back to India. Hameed said the move was unexpected and unusual, asking people to go back to India is the last thing the government should be doing. The embassy should try and come with a plan and diplomatic dialogue insisting the Saudi authorities to allow these stranded Indians into the kingdom.
“"I request the Government of India & other concerned authorities to look into this issue immediately & to facilitate them to be landed in Saudi Arabia by effecting diplomatic consultations with the Saudi Arabian Government in this regard,” he said.
Several passengers who are stranded in UAE have called for help adding that they have run out of money for an extended stay. Many of them have also added that they had to resort to taking loans to facilitate their journey to Saudi Arabia via Dubai for quarantine and now they’re left with uncertainty as there is no guarantee when Saudi will lift the temporary ban.
“We can only hope that the Indian government bails us out from the crisis” one of the stranded passengers Sufyan who hails from Mangaluru said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Stock markets snap 3-day decline on buying in banking shares; Sensex jumps 410 pts
Mumbai, May 21 (PTI): Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded on Wednesday, snapping their three-day falling streak on the back of buying in blue-chips HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank and a firm trend in Asian peers.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 410.19 points or 0.51 per cent to settle at 81,596.63 with 24 of its constituents ending higher and six ending lower. During the day, it surged 835.2 points or 1.02 per cent to a high of 82,021.64.
The NSE Nifty climbed 129.55 points or 0.52 per cent to 24,813.45.
Among Sensex firms, Bajaj Finserv rose the most by 2.02 per cent. Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, Nestle, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever and Mahindra & Mahindra also advanced.
IndusInd Bank fell the most by 1.39 per cent. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid and ITC were among the laggards.
Moody's Ratings said on Wednesday said India is well-positioned to deal with the negative effects of US tariffs and global trade disruptions as domestic growth drivers and low dependence on exports anchor the economy.
In a note on India, the agency said government initiatives to boost private consumption, expand manufacturing capacity and increase infrastructure spending will help offset the weakening outlook for global demand.
The BSE midcap gauge advanced 0.90 per cent and smallcap index by 0.51 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, capital goods (1.65 per cent), realty (1.58 per cent), industrials (1.35 per cent), healthcare (0.93 per cent) and teck (0.81 per cent) were the gainers.
Consumer durables emerged as the only laggard.
As many as 2,292 stocks advanced while 1,685 declined and 138 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Among Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng in settled in the positive territory while Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended lower.
Markets in Europe were trading in the negative territory. US markets ended lower on Tuesday.
"Markets exhibited a broadly positive undertone today; however, overall sentiment remained confined within a narrow range, indicating risk of 'sell on rallies' strategy in the near future amid escalating uncertainty around India - US trade negotiations," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.19 per cent to USD 66.16 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 10,016.10 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
Sensex tanked 872.98 points or 1.06 per cent to settle at 81,186.44 while Nifty tumbled 261.55 points or 1.05 per cent to 24,683.90.
