“Its a rebirth for me. I have spent sleepless nights, and it is only after great difficulty that I returned to my hometown. The State and Central governments helped me a lot in coming back, and I request officials to make arrangements for repatriation of the remaining Indians,” said K. Sri Raja Rajesh, who returned home from war-torn Sudan on Monday.
Working as a superviser at a ceramics firm in Sudan, Mr. Rajesh returned home along with his colleague Balla Jagadish on a flight from Sudan to Delhi as part of Operation Kaveri.
“I was in constant fear until the plane took off for Delhi,” he said.
“My family hugged me and we were in tears. We are celebrating my safe return and I am meeting all my relatives and friends,” said Mr. Rajesh, who hails from Narsapuram in West Godavari district.
“I was in Sudan for the past seven years. I was working for Al Madina Ceramics. Six more Telugu people, including five from East Godavari and one from Visakhapatnam, were working in our company,” said Mr. Rajesh, who broke down upon seeing his wife Roja Lakshmi and his children.
Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Mr. Rajesh said a chaotic situation prevailed in Sudan and people from different countries who had come there for work were evacuating in panic.
Scores of people from Japan, China, Russia, United States, India and other countries were working in different firms and living in Khartoum, Bahri Khartoum, and Atbara in North-eastern Sudan and other places.
“We were worried after watching the news of the civil war in Sudan on television. I am overjoyed that my son has returned home safe and sound,” said Mr. Rajesh’s mother K. Nagamani.
“My plant was located near the base camp of the Reserve Special Force (RSF) and the military. We would hear bombs going off and feel the tremors at our workplace every day. All the employees lived in constant fear of a possible fire accident as a refinery and LPG tankers were located close to our ceramics company,” he said.
In the last few days, the airport and many other companies were bombed and some hundreds of thousands of people had returned to their countries.
“A few Gujarati families, who had settled in Sudan decades ago, are now returning to India along with me. I thank the State and Central governments, A.P. Bhavan officials, West Godavari Collector P. Prasanthi, and Narsapuram officers who helped me return home,” said Mr. Rajesh.
Bharat, our company manager, and another employee Ravi are on their way home to India, Mr. Rajesh said, adding that many Indians continue to be stuck in the war-torn country where the situation is worsening by the day.
