An Indian expatriate, who was not able to go home for the last nine years, was able to leave Qatar on Wednesday after the legal hurdles to his travel were removed by the authorities.

Though the travel ban due to cases against him came into force only eight years ago, he in fact was going home after nine years.

His return was facilitated after the Ministry of Interior withdrew cases against him on such issues as non- payment of bank loans, defaulting repayment of credit card dues and staying in the country without a valid residence permit.
P Nair(61), who hailed from the southern Indian state of Kerala, was employed as a supervisor at a government-owned company but he was terminated from service towards the middle of 2008 and he had been stranded here since then. He had last travelled to India in 2007.
While in service Nair had taken a loan from one of the banks in Doha and following his loss of job was not able to travel out of the country without clearing his outstanding dues. The man had also an amount outstanding against his credit card issued by another bank.
Though he had sought the Indian embassy's assistance to bail him out of his problems, the mission could not do much.
In between, more than once he was caught by the police for he was not able to produce a valid RP card but the cops let him off once they realised his predicament.
Nair had been doing some odd jobs to eke out a living but a cardiac surgery more than three years ago had restricted his movement. The Qatar Charity provided financial assistance to him when he was admitted to the hospital.
In 2014, during the Holy month of Ramadan, the bank made an attractive offer to him. While he had an outstanding arrears of more than QR75,000, the lender agreed to settle the loan if he repaid QR25,000 in a single installment.
When they came to learn about his plight, a few philanthropists in the Indian community came forward to help him. Prominent NRI industrialist Ravi Pillai of Nasser Al Hajri Corporation, Late Thampy Narayanan of Alu Tech and leading ENT Specialist Dr Mohan Thomas chipped in and in no time the loan with the bank was settled.
Though his journey to his homeland was delayed owing to further legal hurdles, about a month ago Ministry of Interior (MoI) officials told him of their decision to repatriate him after the cases against him were withdrawn.
"I just do not know how to thank Pillai, Narayanan and Dr Thomas as well as others who helped me. But for the assistance, my return would not have come even now," Nair told this newspaper a few hours before boarding the evening flight to his home country.