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Telangana migrant stranded in the UAE, reunited with family after 16 years
Neela Yellaiah, who lost his passport and was suffering partial memory loss, returned to Hyderabad from Dubai in an Air India flight in the early hours of Tuesday.
It was an emotional reunion for 47-year old Neela Yellaiah, a migrant worker from Telangana with his wife and daughter at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday after being stranded in the UAE for 16 years.
Yellaiah, who lost his passport and was suffering partial memory loss all these years, returned to Hyderabad from Dubai in an Air India flight in the early hours of Tuesday. He was received by E Chittibabu, special officer of NRI cell in the Telangana government and his family members.
“His wife Rajavva broke into tears on seeing her husband after 16 years. His daughter Sunanda, who was a breastfeeding baby when he went to Dubai in 2004, was also emotional on seeing her father for the first time,” Mandha Bheem Reddy, president of Telangana Gulf Migrants’ Forum, who coordinated the entire process of bringing Yellaiah back to India, told Hindustan Times.
Though it was mandatory for Yellaiah to be in institutional quarantine for a week as per the Covid-19 protocol, the Telangana government permitted him to be taken straightaway to his native village Chinthamanpalli in Domakonda block of Kamareddy district in view of his physical weakness and memory loss. He will have to be in home quarantine for two weeks.
Bheem Reddy said Yellaiah went to the United Arab Emirates in 2004 to work as a labourer in a construction company on a temporary visa. However, he was forced to quit the company for some reasons. He lived in Dubai and Sharjah for the last 16 years doing odd jobs.
“During this period, he suffered ill-health. He lost his passport and. He was stuck there because did not have a passport. Having come under severe mental and physical strain, he also lost his memory partially,” Reddy said.
Apparently, Yellaiah lost touch with his wife and other family members, who had no clue about his whereabouts. In the last 16 years, he might have spoken to his wife four or five times and according to his wife, there had been no word from him in the last 10 years.
Rajavva, who started working as an agriculture labourer on daily wages, brought up her daughter Sunanda. “A couple of years ago, she even got her daughter married and Sunanada now has a one-year-old son,” Reddy said.
Recently, Rupesh Mehta, a volunteer from the ‘Jain Seva Mission’ (JSM), a social service organization in the Gulf countries, noticed Yellaiah’s condition while distributing provisions for Indian migrants in Sharjah.
“On coming to know about Yellaiah’s plight, Mehta arranged an Emergency Certificate (Temporary Passport) from the Indian Consulate in Dubai for him. But it was not so easy, as there were no details of his old passport,” he said.
Rajavva, with the support of Gulf Migrants’ Forum, made a request with the Hyderabad Passport Office, which searched its data base and found the passport details of Yellaiah. The same details were shared to the Consulate General of India (CGI), Dubai which made it easier to issue temporary passport.
“Jitender Singh Negi and Harjeet Singh, Labour Consuls at CGI, Dubai, helped him in getting the passport. The consulate also provided a free air ticket from Dubai to Hyderabad,” Reddy said.
According to UAE immigration regulations, those whose visa expires and residing illegally have to pay an overstay fine of 25 UAE Dirhams ( ₹500) per day. This carries a hefty fine of 1.46 Lakh Dirhams ( ₹29 lakhs) for 16 years.
“Thanks to the efforts of Rupesh Mehta and Indian Consulate, the Dubai immigration officials waived this fine and gave him exit permit,” Reddy said.
He appealed to the state and central governments to provide rehabilitation for Yellaiah.
