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A community initiative launched to assist distressed Indians amid the pandemic has become a global organisation spread across 18 countries.
Rescuing Every Distressed Indian Overseas (Redio), a purely volunteer-run group launched in February 2021, has rescued 150 distressed Indians as of February 2022.
Owing to its immense success, the volunteer-run group will be formally launched by Minister of State for External Affairs, India, V Muraleedharan on February 20, advisors of the group in UAE told Khaleej Times. The junior Minister will officially launch Redio’s logo, the group’s advisors stated.
The initiative was spearheaded by a former secretary with the Ministry of External Affairs in India and the consul general of India in New York, Dnyaneshwar Mulay, with several volunteers worldwide.
Distressed Indian visitors and expatriates can reach out to Redio via a helpline number and social media channels.
“Issues faced by stranded Indians are passed on to social workers in different countries,” said Dhanashree Patil, the group’s global administrator. Mulay assists the group with diplomatic and government support.
Its UAE advisors are a well-known social worker and businessman Rahul Tulpule, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awardee Girish Pant and Abdul Jaleel.
“Redio is now present in countries such as Singapore, China, Poland, US, Canada, Nigeria, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, and Hong Kong, to name a few. What we’re trying to do is form a clear network that can assist individuals in trouble,” said Tulpule.
“Each country has about one to two social workers. We are also reaching out to relatives of the family that froze to death while trying to cross the border to reach Canada,” he explained.
“We are a registered association in India. We started off as a small group of three to four members, and now we are 21 members strong spread across 18 countries,” said Tuplule.
Social workers affiliated with Redio assist Indians stranded overseas by providing legal, financial, and any other kind of counsel, including connecting them with the Indian missions in these countries.
The matter of unscrupulous and illegal employment agents remains one of the more pressing problems in the UAE, Tulpule said.
“People travelling to UAE on a visit visa with the help of unauthorised agents promising them high-paying jobs remains one of the biggest problems. We have identified three states in India where we will run an awareness drive about these activities to tackle this issue. The drive will be held in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala,” he added.
Meanwhile, Patil added, “The issue of stranded seafarers are also common in the UAE. We are connecting the seamen to the Consulate who are then finding means to rescue them from their predicament.”
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Recently, Redio rescued a group of three seafarers – Deepak Kumar, Ajay Chauhan and Arshid Sarfaraz - who’d been stranded without access to proper food.
“They hadn’t eaten for three days. They reached out to us through the helpline. Cheated by their agents, they were left here for over a week with no money, no place to stay and no food. We had them repatriated back to India as soon as we could,” said Tulpule.
The Madad team at the Consulate General of India in Dubai investigated the matter and located the agent who got them to the UAE. “The Consulate got the agent to buy the air tickets of the men who were stranded. During this time, Dhanashree remained in constant touch with the victims and their families, playing a crucial role ensuring they got the latest updates and emotional support,” explained Tulpule.
- dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com
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