Dubai Hotelier books flight to send workers from Dubai

Vakwady Praveen Kumar Shetty of Fortune Group of Hotels has booked a flight to ferry his employees and labourers to their native places.

As many as 178 labourers from Mangaluru, Udupi, Kundapura, and Kasargod, who are stranded in Dubai, will land at Mangalore International Airport (MIA) on June 1 at 2 pm. The entrepreneur has booked an entire flight incurring an expenditure of Rs 38 lakh.

“Our group of seven hotels has over 800 employees from Karnataka and other states. These hotels had not witnessed any business for the past three months. There were no customers even after the lockdown was lifted. As a result, the employees on leave without work had to be sent back to their villages,” Shetty said.

Though there was no work, the employees have been paid one month’s salary. About 500 employees, who had expressed their wish to return to their native villages, are being sent back by the company, he said.