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Nearly 40 Indians being deported from Dubai

Atul Aneja

DUBAI: Nearly 40 Indian workers are being deported following the violent protest on Wednesday night involving nearly 2,000 workers at a prominent construction area in the city.

Most of the employees have now resumed work, but tensions have still not been fully defused, diplomatic sources said. A meeting of top Dubai officials, including the Director-General of Immigration, representatives of the Dubai police, the employer, Al Ahmadiah Contracting and Trading Company, and the Consul-General of India in Dubai, Yash Sinha, has been fixed for Wednesday. Apart from the specifics of the case, the meeting with the Permanent Committee for Labour and Immigration is expected to discuss the formation of an "early warning" mechanism at the company level so that grievances can be aired and timely action taken.

Living conditions

According to sources, Wednesday's rioting might not have been the result of workers experiencing poor living conditions or on account of irregular payment of salaries. Representatives of the Indian consulate who visited the company's labour camps came back with the impression that living conditions there were quite adequate.

However, grievances appeared to have accumulated because of incompetence at the lower end of the management chain. Sources said preliminary inquires revealed that some workers were paid overtime because of the use of "punching machines" which were not equipped to maintain such records. Workers were also frequently changed from "skilled" to "unskilled" categories — a move which brought down their remuneration considerably.

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