HYDERABAD: As he talks about the travails of T workers in the
Gulf
, tears roll down the eyes of
Patkuri Basanth Reddy
. “Their woes should end. Workers are going there with dreams in their eyes but returning as corpses,” Basanth, a main in his 40s, pointed out. For the last few years, he has been working selflessly and tirelessly to assist workers suffering in the Gulf.
Last month, Bolipalli Kranthi Kumar, a worker from the state, met with a road accident in Dubai.
Kranthi Kumar was in coma in a hospital there. Basanth Reddy coordinated with the authorities there as well as the company where the victim worked and got him back to Hyderabad. This was possible only
Venkat Rao
after coordination with local authorities, including the state government and doctors at NIMS, the hospital where Kranthi Kumar was admitted later. Kranthi was flown in an Emirates flight from Abu Dhabi with six seats in the business class being removed to make space for him. A doctor and a nurse accompanied him. “He is out of danger now,” Basanth said.
Basanth Reddy himself worked in the Gulf once. “Several years ago, I had to travel from Hyderabad to Mumbai in a train with space just enough to stand on one leg,” he recalled. After his return, there is nothing that he does except rush to help anyone in need.
Recently, he met external affairs minister
Sushma Swaraj to represent the case of four workers from Jagitial who were languishing in Iraq jails. Officials spoke to the Indian embassy in Iraq to render help so that the workers are released. “Agents trapping gullible workers have to be weeded out from every village. What is more important is giving employment opportunities to those who return to the city from the Gulf,” he said.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyde...
Read MoreSushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.
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