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Groups of bachelors annoying for women

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ABDULLAH Al Amri, Director of the Sharjah Municipality, said that the municipality is keen on making the city a family-friendly place and has taken a number of measures to curb the nuisance caused by groups of bachelors.

Elaborating on these measures, he pointed to the decision of the civic body that prevents bachelors and groups of labourers from staying in residential areas, and compelled them to shift their residence to industrial areas.

“The municipality is now executing a project to provide accommodation for these workers in industrial areas,” he said, adding that the municipality has also introduced, since the beginning of this month, the park membership card which allows only the holders of these cards to enter the community parks in their neighbourhood.

Pedestrian subways crowded by vendors

SAFDAR complained about the difficulty of passing through the subway of Al Arouba Street in Sharjah because of the presence of many street vendors who are bargaining with customers and turning the subway, which is supposed to be a safe crossing for pedestrians, into markets.

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ABDULLAH Al Amri said that the municipality is currently intensifying its campaign targeting these mobile vendors and cracking down on their illegal activities, especially in the Rolla area.

“Through this campaign, a large number of these vendors selling fake products were recently nabbed by the inspector of the civic body.” He however, promised that inspectors will check the subway in question and take necessary measures accordingly. He urged the public to cooperate with the municipality by reporting any illegal practices. He said that people can direct such complaints to the Emergency Section by calling 993 and the inspectors will immediately respond.

Sponsorship transfer to husband

A WORKING expatriate who is sponsoring her daughter and her maid enquired if she can get her sponsorship transferred to her husband’s visa as well as that of her child and housemaid. The company refused to give her sponsorship transfer to her husband’s visa, and she asked if the employer has the right to do that.

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THE help desk of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department replied that the woman can get sponsorship transfer for herself and for the child as well as the maid if her husband’s salary falls in the requirement for such. The salary requirement for sponsoring the family is Dh3,000 plus accommodation or a total of Dh4,000, whereas for sponsoring the housemaid, the salary should be Dh5,000 plus accommodation or a total of Dh6,000.

The husband’s salary in the inquirer’s case should be Dh5,000 plus accommodation or a total of Dh6,000, as he has to sponsor the family and the maid. The inquirer should first apply for sponsorship transfer for the maid and the child before taking any step with regard to her sponsorship transfer. The fee for each sponsorship transfer application is Dh100. After that, she should apply for the cancellation of her visa on the company’s sponsorship and submit a fresh visa application with the husband as a sponsor.

With regard to the caller’s enquiry if her employer has the right to deny her transfer of sponsorship from the company to the husband, a source at the Labour Ministry said that the ministry has made it optional for employers. “Employers can either give sponsorship to their women employees or allow them to stay on their husbands or fathers’ visas, provided that they obtain labour cards,” the source explained, adding: “If the employer refuses to transfer the employee’s visa to her husband’s sponsorship, then she has no option other than quitting her job.”

A large number of companies employing women staying in the country on their relatives’ visas had been forcing these employees to be on the employers’ visas as a means to cut down on the cost of labour cards. This change in the policies of companies has been noticed since the Ministry of Labour increased the fees for the issuance of labour cards for women on their relatives’ sponsorship. The fees for the annual renewal of labour cards for this category of women employees had proved to be too costly for companies hiring them.

'Mistreated' by PIA's ground staff

MOHAMMED Arif Khan complained against the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) saying that apart from frequent and inordinate delays, his old father was mistreated by the ground staff on the recent flight PK 214 from Dubai to Karachi.

“My father had come from Jeddah on the early morning of May 9; and after a short transit, he was supposed to board the PIA flight to Karachi which was supposed to depart at 9am,” he told the Khaleej Times Hotline.

Khan also complained that initially the flight was delayed and the staff informed the passengers that the flight was delayed due to a technical problem.

“Later, they accommodated the passengers in a flight to Quetta, but when they started reboarding, they asked my father to stand aside, telling him that his name was not on the list,” he said, adding that his father was shocked because he was carrying a boarding card in his hand, but the ground staff insisted that his name was not included in the list of passengers.

Khan also claimed that the PIA had treated his father such because they simply wanted to accommodate another passenger. “My intention is to highlight that my father was coming after performing Umrah and had reached Dubai airport at 6am, so that he did not have to miss his flight. Due to this delay, he did not sleep for two days,” added Khan.

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IN REPLY, the Station Manager of PIA, Iqbal Zubairi, said: “The flight was delayed because of a slight snag, and we decided to make the passengers wait instead of putting their lives at risk. During this while, all passengers were asked to take breakfast. Later, a decision was taken that the passengers to Karachi would be put on the Quetta flight. Since both the flights were different with different flight numbers, the passengers were asked to stand in different lines, and this might have caused a confusion among passengers. Passenger safety was our main concern.”

Shortage of water in Liwa Tower

ALI from Abu Dhabi complained that Liwa Tower, located on the Old Passport Road is out of water for the last five days, as the water pump is out of order. “The building management should have a spare motor or water pump, if they really care for their tenants,” he told the Khaleej Times Hotline. He criticised the landlords who are increasing the rents, but do not properly take care of the poor lot.

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HUSSAIN, manager for the landlord of Liwa Tower, said after the complaint, a new pump had been installed and it has started pumping water to the 20-storey building.

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