Stranded Indians finally accepted under amnesty

The plight of around 80 Indians living on the streets for nearly two weeks in Farwaniya after failing to register for the government amnesty finally ended on Monday, after they were accepted under the amnesty and taken to a shelter for repatriation back home. A volunteer working with a charity group that distributes meals to needy people had posted about their suffering on social media. Kuwait Times had also contacted the interior ministry to take action in this regard, while another Indian group also tried to help.

Their reasons for not registering for the amnesty were varied – some didn’t have passports, others didn’t meet the condition of expired visas before March 1, 2020, some had debts to pay, such as to telecommunication companies, and many didn’t get the chance to enter the processing center during the last five days, as this period was for all nationalities and attendees were in thousands.

Mohammed Khaleel Khan, President of UP NRI Forum Kuwait, was present at the center during the amnesty and during the transfer of this group of Indians to the shelter on Monday. He told Kuwait Times around 80 Indian expats were transferred to the shelter in Abdaly, where visa violators who previously registered for the amnesty are housed, and will leave for India soon.
“The Indian Embassy was present at the amnesty center to help issue travel documents to those who didn’t have their passports. But the problem was that their numbers were huge and the printing machines were not able to print all documents in that short period. Also, some had debts to pay and the amounts were high, so it wasn’t easy to manage. And residencies that expired in March were renewed automatically, so such people were not violators anymore,” Khan said.

“These 80 people were living on the streets as they didn’t have a place to go to, or they came from far-flung areas such as Wafra or Abdaly and couldn’t go back with the curfew situation and the absence of transportation,” he added.
Khan said the UP NRI Forum is distributing food packages to Indians in need. “We prepare the donated food packages to distribute to those in need, especially since there are many Indian families without any resources as they lost their jobs during this crisis and don’t have money to pay the rent or buy food. The Kuwaiti government has taken good care of violators and provided them everything, and we thank the government for their support,” concluded Khan.

Source : Kuwait Times

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