Hundreds of Indian workers en route to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been stranded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after the other two countries tightened Covid-19-related travel restrictions, with many reluctant to avail of free tickets to return home.
The UAE is the key transit point for Indian workers travelling to several West Asian countries and the Dubai airport handled 4.3 million Indian passengers last year, a majority of them travelling to or from Mumbai and New Delhi.
The Indian workers were stranded in the UAE after Kuwait banned the entry of non-citizens for two weeks from February 7, and Saudi Arabia suspended the entry of people travelling from 20 countries, including India, on February 4. The move followed a rise in the…