Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Monday, October 7, issued guidelines on ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh for families of migrants from the state working in gulf nations.
Implementing its poll promise regarding the welfare of Gulf workers, the Telangana government issued GO 216 providing Rs 5 lakh as ex gratia to the families without considering the cause of death. The eligibility to claim the ex gratia will be from Dec 7, 2023.
Families of migrants from Telangana working in countries including Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who died on or after December 7 2023 will be eligible for the ex gratia amount.
Following the announcement organisations representing people working in the Gulf region urged the Telangana government to expand its ambit to provide the ex gratia to families of workers in all countries where an Emigration Clearance Required (ECR) document is necessary.
Documents required
To avail the amount, family members will have to provide the death certificate of the person, their cancelled passport, proof of employment in one of the seven Gulf countries (work visa or employment contract) and valid bank account details of the applicants.
Following the submission of the documents, the same will be verified by the district collector after the verification, a formal sanction for the ex gratia will be issued by the collector. The amount will be transferred directly to the bank account of the kin of the deceased.
Migrants’ rights activist and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) NRI cell convener Mandha Bheem Reddy requested chief minister A Revanth Reddy to include Afghanistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Israel, Yemen, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Russia, Ukraine and Maldives too.
Speaking to Siasat.com, Bheem said, “The cut-off date for availing the amount is December 7 2023, on behalf of Telangana migrant workers in the Gulf countries. I would request the government to consider 2,000 people who died in the gulf during the previous government and the 1,500 workers who died during the AP government.”
He urged the Congress government to consider providing an ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh each so that 3,500 families could be helped.