Telangana: SAC formed to help people stranded in Afghanistan

Hyderabad: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has advised people to coordinate the repatriation and other requests with respect to those from Telangana stranded in Afghanistan with the Special Afghanistan Cell (SAC) constituted by it. They can also approach the Hyderabad Regional Passport Officer (RPO) Dasari Balaiah for necessary action.

While a person from Telangana claimed that he was stranded in Afghanistan and sought help for his repatriation, officials at Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi said they were ready to extend any help to people from Telangana returning from Afghanistan.

“As of now, we have not received any request,” Telangana Bhavan Assistant Commissioner Ch Sangeetha told Telangana Today on Wednesday. Officials will coordinate with the MEA in case if of any request, she said.

Sources said most of the people repatriated to India from Afghanistan so far were from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Officials in Telangana and AP Bhavan in New Delhi were coordinating with the MEA on people from the two Telugu States, who were repatriated to India or are stranded in Afghanistan.

Apart from sending the request to the SAC on contact numbers: +91-11-49016783, +91-11-49016784 and +91-11 490167835, WhatsApp number: +91-8010611290 and email: situationroom@mea.gov.in, the same requests for facilitation may be forwarded to Balaiah, who is also the head of MEA branch in Secretariat.

The request can be made on phone numbers: 040-27806051/ 27811030 and email: hobs.hyderabad@mea.gov.in. When contacted, Balaiah said: “We have not received any request from anyone in the State so far.”