Telangana Migrant Stranded in the UAE, Reunited with Family After 16 Years

Telangana Migrant Stranded in the UAE, Reunited with Family After 16 Years

It was an emotional reunion for 47-year old Neela Yellaiah, a migrant worker from Telangana with his wife and daughter at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday after being stranded in the UAE for 16 years.

Yellaiah, who lost his passport and was suffering partial memory loss all these years, returned to Hyderabad from Dubai in an Air India flight in the early hours of Tuesday. He was received by E Chittibabu, special officer of NRI cell in the Telangana government and his family members.

“His wife Rajavva broke into tears on seeing her husband after 16 years. His daughter Sunanda, who was a breastfeeding baby when he went to Dubai in 2004, was also emotional on seeing her father for the first time,” Mandha Bheem Reddy, president of Telangana Gulf Migrants’ Forum, who coordinated the entire process of bringing Yellaiah back to India, told Hindustan Times.

Though it was mandatory for Yellaiah to be in institutional quarantine for a week as per the Covid-19 protocol, the Telangana government permitted him to be taken straightaway to his native village Chinthamanpalli in Domakonda block of Kamareddy district in view of his physical weakness and memory loss. He will have to be in home quarantine for two weeks