Hyderabad, Oct 6 (UNI) Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately initiate steps to bring back workers mostly from Andhra Pradesh stranded in the Gulf countries.

In a letter to Dr Singh, a copy of which was released to the press here, Mr Naidu asked him to direct the officials concerned to open a Cell to facilitate the safe return of the thousands of workers, who had gone to the Gulf countries without proper documents and were getting duped by ''selfish'' travel agents.

Recalling that the Union Government had brought back all Indians stranded in Kuwait during the Gulf war bearing all expenses, the former Chief Minister wanted the Centre to arrange for their free travel, medical aid, release of their locked up and withheld earnings in the hands of their employers.

As the ''half-hearted job mela'' organised by the State Government would not be of any use to the returnees, the Union Government should take upon itself the responsibility of proper rehabilitation of the expatriates and free them from the clutches of moneylenders, from whom they had borrowed to go to the Gulf countries, he added.

UNI