 "KCR increases his son's role in government")
Telangana government is planning to set up a full-fledged department to deal with the issues of non-resident Telanganites working in the Gulf countries and also to attract overseas investments to the state.
The government already has an NRI affairs wing in the General Administration Department and a ministerial portfolio, which was under chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao till a couple of months ago.
Among other things, the government proposes to set up offices in districts where this kind of migration has been taking place, to create a database of overseas migrant workers, provide skill training and help secure a job Visa for those who aspire to go to these countries in search of work, coordinate with the Centre to help them in times of distress etc., according to an officer working in this wing.
Even, bringing back the bodies of those who die while working in these countries was a big help to families back home as they are mostly poor.
An estimated 1 million migrants from Telangana have been working in the Gulf countries, mostly in countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Yemen. Most of them are engaged in unskilled jobs in the construction sector. Having little or no education, many of them are often subjected to hardships in the hands agents at the time of securing a Visa or in the hands of employers in terms of salary and difficult working conditions.
Keeping Telangana migrant workers' plight in mind, the previous governments of the undivided Andhra Pradesh created a small wing with a skeletal staff to provide help to these migrant workers in times of distress and represent their issues with the External Affairs Ministry.
Soon after coming to power, chief minister Rao had asked the officials to submit a report on strengthening and expanding the functioning of the NRI division. The officials had given a report with a set of recommendations to the chief minister an year ago.
Chief minister Rao had allocated the NRI portfolio to minister K T Rama Rao, who is his son, along with Industries and Mining portfolios hitherto held by two other ministers on top of the IT and Municipal Administration subjects already held by him, in a minor cabinet reshuffle effected in April. The ball started rolling on the NRI subject after this change.
"We have studied the successful model of Kerala before preparing the report. But we had to keep one difference in mind. Those who migrate from Kerala are educated and engage themselves in a relatively high paid jobs. But those who migrate from Telangana have little or no education and engage in hard construction sector jobs," the official told Business Standard.
Most of the migration to Gulf countries is happening from the districts of Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Adilabad, the three north Telangana districts where the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti has a strong following.
When it comes to Andhra Pradesh, many people from East and West Godavari and Kadapa districts migrate to these Gulf countries to work as domestic helps.
