Bid to tackle sucidal tendencies among Indians in UAE

CHENNAI: Alarmed at the increase in cases of suicide among Indian expatriates in the UAE, the Indian Resource Centre attached to the country's diplomatic mission there on Friday launched a three-month campaign of advertisments on radio in five Indian langauges, including Tamil. India's ambassador to the UAE M Lokesh told TOI over telephone that the progamme would ask workers facing marital, psychological or financial problems to seek help. Sources said the 30-second radio clip urges workers to call the Indian Workers Resource Centre in Dubai where counsellors would attend to their problems and offer advice. "A number of workers listen to radio or transistor or FM channels on mobile phones and it was the best medium to reach out to them and would help them in distress," Lokes said. "The aim is not only to help people with suicidal tendencies but also create awareness among workers about the resource centre and how they can benefit from it," he added. The radio campaign comes in the wake of two high-profile suicides in the Indian community in Dubai recenly. On Sunday last, a 45-year-old executive jumped from the 30th floor of the Jumeirah Lake Towers. The week before, 32-year-old Athiraman Kannan from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu leapt to his death from the 148th floor of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. He is believed to have been suffering from depression. There have been at least 39 suicides of Indian nationals this year while 132 persons, almost one every three days, took their lives last year, diplomats said and hoped the radio campaign would become popular and reduce suicidal tendencies. The advertisements, being broadcast in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Punjabi and Telugu on different Indian radio stations, will target various ethnic groups. The Indian embassy says 176 Indian nationals took their lives in 2008, and 135 in 2009. Loneliness, financial problems and marital issues were the most common causes, embassy officials said. The number of calls has doubled from 50 to 100 a day in the past week since the two high-profile suicides were reported. However, most of the calls were related to legal issues.