N0RKA gearing up to face any eventuality

Arjun Raghunath
The New Indian Express
17 Mar 2011

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: WITH three-month emergency being clamped in the West Asian country of Bahrain, the Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA) Department is once again gearing up to meet any eventuality.

The crisis in Bahrain followed the recent mass eviction from another West Asian nation Libya and the NoRKA Department had made elaborate arrangements in New Delhi and Mumbai for a trouble-free transit of the evictees to their home towns.

Following the crisis in Bahrain, top officials in the NoRKA Department are in constant touch with the officials of the Ministry of External Affairs as well as the Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry.

It is estimated that there are nearly three lakh Indians in Bahrain, one-third of which is Malayalis.

“The feedback we have received from the Centre is that the situation in Bahrain is so far not so alarming. Especially following the intervention of the troops from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the Bahrain administration seems to be gaining control over the agitators and there is no need for any immediate eviction of Indians,” sources in the NoRKA Department said.

“The Centre would initiate any measures such as mass eviction from another country only as an extreme step as diplomatic matters are concerned,” sources added.Besides Bahrain, the agitations in Yemen and Oman are also matters of concern for India as there is considerable number of Indians in these countries.

Either the NoRKA Department or its field agency NoRKA-Roots had not yet received any personal requests from Malayalis from these countries seeking help.

Recruiting Agents Association of Kerala president and a businessman in Bahrain B Vivek said that there was no major cause for concern for the Indians in Bahrain for the time being as things were quite under control.

“Since the communication systems were slightly affected many are not able to keep be in touch with their relatives. However, with the intervention of troops from Saudi Arabia things are quite under control,” he said adding that things were expected to be back to become normal in the coming days.

Express had earlier reported that the unrest in the West Asian countries may affect the job prospects of thousands of Indians, including Keralites. It would even have its repercussions on Kerala economy as remittances from NRKs constitute about 25 percent of the total deposits received by the banks in the state.