A Sharjah-based Malayali businessman chartered an aircraft to evacuate his 120 staff members to Kochi, who had been stranded in UAE due to the ongoing pandemic.

The Air Arabia special flight G9427, arranged by R Hari Kumar, Chairman of Elite group of Industries, also carried 50 other people, who were looking for tickets for a long time after they lost their jobs in the country.

The employees belong to the 12 business entities that make up the Elite Group of Companies.

Kumar, also gave an option to his employees of taking up a job in the company’s unit in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu if they did not wish to return to the UAE, The Hindustan Times reported.

Of the employees who returned in the flight, one of them said that they were also given one-month additional salary and gift packets by the company.

Speaking to the media, Kumar insisted that he was doing his job of supporting his staff, who had been with him in his rough times, and the chartered flight was a simple way of his gratitude towards them.

‘A good business firm is like a family. All chip in for the growth of the firm. If employees are in trouble it is the duty of the firm to look after them. I will help send more stranded people to the country,’ Kumar said.

Adding, he told the media that this might help the employees overcome the psychological stress they had been facing over the last three months since the outbreak.

Also a popular theatre artist in Kerala, Kumar hails from Amabalpuzha in Alappuzha and has been based out of UAE for the last 20 years.

His company deals with architectural, industrial applications, and aluminium products and has about 1,200 employees in Persian Gulf countries.

The special flight landed at the Cochin International Airport on Sunday night.

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