Welcoming the move, Shameer PTK, a social worker in Oman who coordinates repatriating bodies, said that this is a relief.

From Our Correspondent

MUSCAT: Expenses to airlift mortal remains of Keralites in the Arab Gulf will be paid by Kerala government’s agency, the state minister said while announcing the 2019-20 State Budget.

Currently, RO160 has to be paid for airlines to carry the mortal remains from Oman to any destination in India.

Now on, this charge will be taken care by Non Resident Keralites Affairs, a agency set up under the Kerala government to look after the welfare and protection of non resident Keralites, while repatriating Keralites bodies, Dr Thomas Isaac, the state finance minister said while reading out the budget.

In Oman, there are around 400,000 Keralites working. And in the Arab Gulf itself, the number is more than 3 million.

Welcoming the move, Shameer PTK, a social worker in Oman who coordinates repatriating bodies, said that this is a relief, however, around RO400 has to be spent as other expenses.

“Buying coffin, embalming bodies all has expenses. Most of the time, when the employer is not in a position to take care of the expenses occurred in repatriating bodies of poor workers, it’s the kind hearted people who come forward and meet the expenses,” Shameer added.

Recently, India’s national carrier had announced flat rate in transporting mortal remains of Indians who die in the Arab Gulf to any destination in India.

Last week, a senior Air India official had said that after discussions with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, we have decided that we will be charging a ‘flat rate’ to bring back dead bodies from six Gulf countries…This flat rate would be 40 per cent lower than what is usually charged.

He added that this “flat rate services” for bringing a body back would currently be available for six Gulf countries and it would be 1,500 Dirhams for the United Arab Emirates, 220 Saudi Riyal for Saudi Arabia, 2,200 Qatari Riyal for Qatar, 225 Bahraini Dinar for Bahrain, 160 Omani Rial for Oman and 175 Kuwaiti Dinar for Kuwait.

According to the current exchange rates, the “flat rate” would approximately be the following in Indian currency — Rs 29,000 for the United Arab Emirates, Rs 41,800 for Saudi Arabia, Rs 43,000 for Qatar, Rs 42,500 for Bahrain, Rs 29,500 Oman and Rs 40,900 for Kuwait.

The Air India official added that these services might be extended to various other countries that had a significant Indian immigrant population.

However, Shameer added there are certain logistic difficulties in repatriating bodies on Air India.

“A lot of clerical work has to be done in India, which in most cases is a hurdle for the victims’ families. So, we prefer other airline,” he added.

Additionally, he added that we should wait to see how it’s implemented and what are the procedures.

In 2017, India was the largest country of origin of international migrants at 1.7 crore, with about 50 lakh Indians residing in the Gulf region alone, according to the 2017 International Migration Report of the United Nations.