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Arrogant behaviour of post office employee

A DUBAI resident who went to the Karama post office recently to recharge his mobile card was in for a rude shock when a UAE national employee at the postal counter, unable to follow his mobile number, asked him to leave the premises.

Nazar Khan, who gave his mobile number verbally to the counter staff, said: “The counter staff kept asking me to repeat the number several times. I realised that he was unable to understand me, so I scribbled the number on a slip of paper and handed it over to him. But he refused to take the slip and once again asked me to tell him the number verbally.”

“Having once again not followed the mobile number, he asked me to leave the premises. I felt humiliated on being asked to leave the post office. How could counter staff be so rude!” exclaimed Nazar, who complained of having spent a long time at the post office last week only to recharge the mobile card. “Later, I went over to another counter staff who immediately processed my request,” Nazar pointed out.

Reply

AN OFFICIAL from the Karama Post office said the postal authority levies fines and deducts salaries of the counter staff on rude behaviour.

“If we receive complaints against any staff, strict action is taken immediately,” he said, explaining that the customer should immediately bring the complaint to the knowledge of the postmaster or any senior official of the postal office.

“Sometimes, there can be a misunderstanding and we try and resolve it between the counter staff and the customer. But in severe cases of complaints, we also have a tribunal investigating the complaint and the staff is required to explain his behaviour or face penalties and fines,” the official said.

Flies and mosquitos in Sharjah

ARSHAD Pathan, Resident of Sharjah complained about the increase of flies and mosquitos in schools and residential areas. He said any time he calls the municipality, they say the pest control department is closed.

Reply

AHMED Hilmi, an official from the Sharjah Municipality, said that the pest control section is part of the health directorate and has a programme of spraying pesticides in various areas according to a schedule. “Every day, the workers visit an area to fumigate it. They move from one area to another, according to the schedule, until they cover the entire city. Once complete, they re-start the spraying procedures regularly,” he said.

However, Hilmi urged the public facing such a menace to call the emergency at 06-993 any time for complaints or the pest control section at 06-5437788.

Trauma of unborn child and ‘negligent’ doctor

LOSS of an unborn child can be a trauma for the parents, while it also puts the doctor being consulted in a tight spot. Uday S. Thambe and his wife Neeta are still recovering from the loss of their first unborn child.

“Everything was normal till the fifth month when Dr Shaimala Devi from Ideal Medical Centre in Sharjah told us that the baby was not developing well, and might have to be aborted,” Thambe told Khaleej Times Hotline.

He said that due to negligence on the part of the doctor, he and his wife had to undergo the trauma. “My wife had gone for a regular check-up to this doctor, but she was not told that there was anything to worry about. During the second test, the doctor said the baby might not survive,” he explained.

Uday said that upon getting a second opinion from doctors in Zuleikha Hospital, they were told that the foetus had expired 3-4 weeks earlier. “My wife is traumatised due to this negligence,” he added.

Reply

DR SHAIMALA Devi said: “Only an anomaly test can prove the state the unborn child is in. Before this test is carried out, we cannot worry the patient unjustly.”

She also said that this test is normally carried out after 12 weeks of pregnancy. “I already had my doubts, but I was waiting for this test,” she said, adding that Neeta wanted to leave for India before the test was conducted. “I am human, and this was God’s wish. I had already sensed that the baby’s kidneys were not forming properly and had already taken the necessary action,” she added.

Rolla area of Sharjah is devoid of street lights

HEENA, a resident of Sharjah who lives in Rolla off Bank Street complained on the Khaleej Times hotline that there were no street lights in that area, making it very dangerous for women to walk down the road, once the shops close.

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WHEN contacted, an official from the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa) said the complaint is baseless as no street in that area is without proper streetlights. The area around the bank street is important because of the museum and art centres located there. Perhaps, some times, the bulbs might have fused resulting in a couple of streets without proper light. He urged the public to call up the emergency unit of Sewa to report any such defects so that the authority can carry out the repairs immediately.

Ministry rule affecting business sector

AN OWNER of an LLC company complained that his company was stopped from processing applications at the Ministry of Labour because of violations recorded against other companies owned by the same national partner. He observed that investors seek setting up limited liability companies because the liability is limited to the investors. The national partner, in most cases, is a bogus partner who sought to meet the licensing requirement of 51 to 49 per cent shareholding.

He urged the Ministry of Labour to take into consideration this fact when penalising an Emirati owner of a company for violations in his actual investment projects and establishments. He noted that his company kept a record clear of any violation during the past 15 years, adding that he urgently needed to recruit staff, but he had not been able to obtain work permits for them for the last three months. He noted that the business sector is severely affected because of this rule of the ministry.

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AN OFFICIAL from the Ministry of Labour clarified that in order to compel employers to clear the labour violations, and to comply with the rules and regulations, the national sponsor — whether owner or a partner — is liable before the ministry.

Accordingly, to force company owners and partners to observe the rules and to ensure that establishments rectify their violations immediately rather than accumulating them for years, the ministry decided a few months ago to stop its dealings with all companies owned by the same sponsor if one of his establishments has any violations, the official explained. “Since the ministry deals with the national sponsor or owner whose name is on the licence, he is liable before the ministry should any problem happens,” he noted.

The LLC does not mean that the national partner whose share is 51 per cent in the licence is not liable, even if he was a bogus partner, the official stressed. “Before the introduction of this new policy, the ministry used to suspend only the errant company, regardless of who its owner or partner was. But this had not helped curb the irregularities in the labour market, forcing us to publish all establishments registered in the name of this particular local sponsor, to force him to rectify the violations at the earliest,” the official said, adding that this has also helped the ministry monitor the bogus companies.

There are many cases when the ministry found out that a national was involved in a number of successfully functional companies in terms of business and compliance with the rules. And, at the same time, the same national businessman, being a sponsor for businesses owned and run by expatriates, was in fact sponsoring bogus companies, he said. “Our mission is to protect the labour market and workers’ rights. Applying collective penalty had proved efficient so far,” he added.

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