The Kerala government will focus on rehabilitation of Gulf returnees as the jobs for immigrants in the Gulf countries are fast shrinking, said the rural development and non-resident affairs (NoRKA)  minister K C Joseph.

Inaugurating the NoRKA-Roots Cell set up at the Collectorate Annexe in Kannur, the Minister said that the cell here was the first to be opened among the six proposed in different parts of the State.

Despite the efforts of the Overseas Affairs Ministry at the Centre and NoRKA to free job aspirants from the clutches of fraudulent recruitment agencies, incidents of cheating and fraud were being reported. The initiatives of the government agencies including media campaign to create awareness among the public against cheating by recruiting agents were not very effective as the job aspirants continue to fall prey to the fraudulent agencies, he noted.

Mr. Joseph said that the NoRKA-Roots Cell here would allow the job aspirants to get their documents attested without any delay. Stating that non-resident Keralites had played key role in sustaining the economic foundation of the State, he said that remittances from the non-residents were the major source of revenue in the State. He said that situation in the Gulf and Arabian countries had already started affecting employment opportunities there for immigrants. Many of these countries were encouraging recruitment of locals to replace the immigrants. Moreover, social unrest in some of those countries had also hit job opportunities there.

He said the Planning Board had already taken the initiatives to devise projects for their rehabilitation.