Bengaluru, Karnataka government gave its firm assurance to all 32 Kannadigas who are repatriated from Saudi Arabia.

This was announced here by the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr C. N. Ashwathnarayana on Thursday. "All 32 Kannadigas reached Bengaluru on Thursday evening and the state has made them stay in Bengaluru University hostel premises," he said.

He further added that all of them have undergone mandatory Covid-19 tests and till the results come, they will be kept in a hostel.

The minister said that most of them lost their jobs due to the pandemic and they are direly in need of jobs, hence the state government had taken responsibility for accommodating them.

According to him, Karnataka took every possible initiative to bring back these 32 persons who were languishing in Saudi Arabia prisons after they had violated their Employment visa rules.

"Most of them had over stayed in that country. We got in touch with External Affairs ministry and in turn they got in touch with Embassy in Saudi Arabia, who helped us out to bring all of them to India," he explained.