Coronavirus: Shashi Tharoor urges PM Modi to ease return of Indians stranded in GCC nations

New Delhi, Apr 25: Senior Congress leader c urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ease the return of Indians stranded in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

In a letter to PM Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Tharoor highlighted the difficulties faced by Indians in the Gulf and shared his opinion to help address some of their existing concerns.

Tharoor called for developing region-specific task forces using local community resources in order to streamline relief and repatriation operations.

In a letter, Tharoor said, "While our embassies have been admirably executing their duties thus far, the government must also look into leveraging the substantial resources that we have in the region, including established Indian cultural organisations and expatriate groups, prominent community and business leaders and civil society organisations, which will help bolster the capacity of our government to reach out to Indians affected in these regions."

He also called for developing protocols to ensure the expedited repatriation of the mortal remains of Indians who have passed away in GCC countries.

Tharoor urged the leaders to facilitate the evacuation of certain economic and social groups from these regions back to their respective states.

"There are a number of groups that the government must look into evacuating such as the elderly and senior citizens, pregnant women, those with expired visit visas, the jobless, those on their final exit, persons released under pardon and so on, who do not otherwise form a part of the critical service providing segment in these countries," the senior Congress leader added.