Kerala to submit Rs 2,000 crore expatriate rehabilitation package to Centre

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said a total of 12.67 lakh expats from the state, who returned following the outbreak of COVID pandemic, have lost their jobs abroad and the state would soon submit a Rs 2,000 crore proposal to the Centre for implementing expatriate rehabilitation package.

The state government already set apart an amount of Rs 50 crore in its latest budget for their rehabilitation and formulating employment and entrepreneurship schemes for them, he told the state Assembly during a calling attention motion by Manjalamkuzhi Ali.

"In addition to the various schemes implemented by the state government, a detailed Rs 2000 crore-worth proposal will be submitted to the Centre soon for the implementation of a comprehensive rehabilitation package for the expatriates," Vijayan said.

According to the state's COVID-19 Jagratha portal, 17,51,852 Non-Resident Keralites have returned home till Tuesday in the wake of the COVID spread.

However, as per the information received from the Airport Authority of India, a total of 39,55,230 passengers travelled abroad through the state airports between May, 2020 and October 2021, he said.

Among the returnees, a total of 1.33 lakh people have accepted the government's emergency financial aid of Rs 5,000 each while 181 have received Rs 10,000 assistance given to the COVID patients, he added.