Daijiworld Media Network - Mysuru (SP)

Mysuru, May 25: An engineer from here had visited Qatar in the Gulf region to meet his wife, who serves as a doctor there. He suffered a heart attack there and breathed his last. With the concerted efforts put forth by the central and state governments, and also the Kannada Sangha there, his mortal remains were airlifted as part of 'Vande Bharat' initiative. The body of the engineer finally arrived at Mysuru on Saturday.

Arunlal was an engineer residing at New Kantharaja Aras Road here. He visited Qatar to meet his doctor wife Rekha. Because of lockdown, he could not return and continued to stay there. On May 15, he breathed his last due to heart attack. As the state government in the meanwhile, had banned bringing of mortal remains from other states and countries, the wife had to struggle to bring her husband's body here for the funeral.

Under these difficult circumstances, Subrahmanya Hebbagilu of Kannada Sangha in Qatar, Mahesh Gowda and others solidly backed Rekha's efforts. They obtained a certificate stating that Arunlal had not died of coronavirus but it was a natural death. They had a regular liaison with the Indian Embassy there, apart from Air India officials and officials of the international airport at Bengaluru. They also sought help from Union Minister, D V Sadananda Gowda. Gowda helped them to get full support of the central government to bring the body here and to transport it by Air India flight. As a special case, the body was brought here in passenger flight due to the efforts of Sadananda Gowda.

Arunlal's body was brought to Bengaluru by his wife on Friday evening. On Saturday, the funeral was performed at the family farm on H D Kote Road here, family sources said.