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Govt. to comprehensively amend Emigration Act

New Delhi, Aug 17 (UNI) The government today said a proposal to comprehensively amend the Emigration Act, 1983 was under serious consideration to prevent recurrence of incidents like the ghastly Bahrain fire tragedy in which 16 Indian nationals, all from Tamil Nadu, perished.

‘‘The government is determined to streamline the emigration process through E-governance and signing of Memoranda of Understanding with major labour importing countries,’’ Overseas Indian Affairs Minister V. Ravi told the Rajya Sabha.

A proposal to set up three NRI Welfare Centres, one each in the Gulf, Malaysia and Canada, was also under the consideration of the government, he told the House.

Further, the governemnt had also launched a publicity campaign to create awareness among potential overseas workers on their rights and obligations, Mr Ravi said, replying to a string of supplementaries on the issue.

Referring to March 28 conference in Doha, he said the Indian government had discussed the emigration issue with eight West Asian countries. ‘‘We expect positive results from this conference,’’ he said.

 Conceding that unscrupulous recruiting agents were exploiting Indians seeking employment abroad, the Minister said only 1500 agents were registered with the government. However, a large number of unregistered agents were fleecing gullible people, especially in villages, he pointed out.

Giving details of the July 30 Bahrain fire incident, the minister said a major blaze broke out in a two-storeyed building at Gudabiya, which housed about 220 Indian labourers.

The fire, which broke out between 0200-0300 hrs, was caused by an electric short-circuit.

Eleven Indian nationals, who received burn injuries, were treated at the Salmania Hospital and discharged the same day. The remaining 196 Indian workers have since been shifted to another accommodation.

He said the Bahrain government had already ordered an inquiry into the causes of the mishap and ‘‘to verify whether the lodging provided to the Indian workers was in conformity with housing safety and health criteria.’’

Mr Ravi said his ministry had also written to the Bahrain government, urging grant of ex-gratia payments to the families of the workers who were killed in the fire and to those injured.

The Tamil Nadu government announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs two lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased while an insurance amount of Rs 5 lakh for each of them was given by the Centre under Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana.

To a query about the safety of Indian women seeking employment abroad, he said they must be in touch with the Indian embassies in the respective countries.

‘‘We have already made a rule that an Indian woman, seeking to be employed as a housemaid, must have completed 30 years of age,’’ he informed.