A total of 186 Indian workers in distress were able to fly home for free recently, thanks to a businessman who sponsored their tickets on two charter flights from the UAE. Dr Dhananjay Datar, chairman and managing director of Al Adil Trading, told Gulf News that 98 workers were flown on an Emirates charter flight to Pune, while 88 were repatriated on a flydubai charter flight to Mumbai last week.
This is in addition to sponsoring tickets of more than 1,000 Indians in coordination with various bodies, said Dr Datar, who is also known as the ‘Masala King’ after the spices sold in his shops.
“We are arranging free charter flights mainly to repatriate low-income workers who have lost their jobs and they ran out of money,” Oberoi, 64, a Dubai-based industrialist from a small town in Punjab, told IANS here on Friday.
He said the stranded Indians include tourists who came out on a shoestring budget and the money is running out. “We are giving priority to pregnant women, old, sick and families,” he said.
The next scheduled chartered flight of SpiceJet, each carrying 177 passengers, is on July 13, 19 and 25. A flight costs Rs 40-42 lakh and is being paid by Oberoi-managed Sarbat Da Bhala Charitable Trust. Oberoi, who came to Dubai in 1977 as a mechanic, is well known for charity work.
His trust saved more than 80 people convicted of various cases for crimes in the United Arab Emirates. It rescued a woman from Punjab who was sold as domestic help in Oman.