Two M’luru-based businessmen in Saudi Arabia to fly their employees home on chartered flights

Team Udayavani, May 30, 2020, 9:58 AM IST

Mangaluru: After the government of India formally approved the repatriation of stranded Indian expatriate workers through chartered flights, Managing director of Expertise Contracting Company, K S Sheikh Karnire, and his brothers are all set to send people to Mangaluru in two hired aircraft by next week.

In the first two flights, 360 people will be sent back to Mangaluru. People will also send to New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, and Chennai by seven other flights engaged by the company.

In a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Joint Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, the company has added that it is looking forward to send 500 of its employees back to the country adding that at least 250 of them need to visit India on emergencies on various grounds viz., to get medical assistance for a protracted illness like diabetes, hypertension etc.; to attend to ailing parents/ family members on emergency; to attend to pressing legal matters etc.

The letter assured the Indian authorities that the company will ensure that all workmen will carry with them Health Certificates from authorized medical centres that would testify them as COVID-19 negative, adding that the certificates shall be generated not earlier than 48 hours before the date of boarding. It also added that all workmen shall wear gloves, masks and shall carry hand sanitizers while travelling.

The company also assured that the workmen will be quarantined by them in India as per the Indian government norms in areas that shall be identified beforehand and that the company will bear necessary expenses.

“We sincerely request you to look into this and grant the necessary permission at the earliest since most of these workmen are getting jittery day by day and situation is likely to get out of control very soon. We look forward to receiving your favorable response on above at the earliest. Undersigned will be the focal point for further communication on this” the letter added.

“Our company will bear their travel expenses and also the quarantine expenses they will incur after reaching India. Our efforts lasting over six weeks have finally yielded results,” company sources said.

K S Sheikh Karnire, and his brothers thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, external affairs minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, union minister for civil aviation Hardeep Singh Puri and chief minister of Karnataka B S Yediyurappa for making this possible.

They also said they are also indebted to Dakshina Kannada district administration which gave its nod for the arrival of people from here and also to arrange to quarantine them there.