UAE community helps Covid-hit workers find jobs back home

UAE community helps Covid-hit workers find jobs back home

A group of business owners in Dubai is helping out daily wage workers who have been hit by the Covid crisis in India, giving them food and offering employment opportunities. The Gulf Maharashtra Business Forum (GMBF) has launched the grassroots initiative in partnership with non-government organisations in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, the main target of the group’s efforts. “A number of daily wage earners who have been living from hand to mouth are now deprived of their two meals a day during the lockdown back home,” explained Prasad Datar, businessman and member of GMBF executive committee. Small, home-based businesses, street food vendors and small restaurants and kitchens are also severely affected. “We are connecting these two hard-hit segments with the help of on-ground support. We are paying small kitchens and home-based food businesses to supply food to daily wage earners. We are also providing daily wage earners with small and temporary jobs in these areas,” added Datar. GMBF has over 300 members across the GCC, and the majority of them are in the UAE. It has pledged over 20,000 meals to a few cities in Maharashtra. “So far, our efforts are concentrated in Pune city, Chiplun, and now