Thiruvananthapuram, Wednesday 10 March 2010: Over 1.73 lakh workers from Kerala have returned back to the state after losing jobs in the Gulf from October 2008 to July 2009, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan told the assembly today.

Out of this, 37,000 persons lost employment due to global economic crisis, he said in a written reply in the assembly. The government had constituted a committee to work out a welfare scheme for the affected persons, he said.