BACHELORS LEFT IN THE COLD

Hundreds of bachelors living in Maysalon area of Sharjah are facing evacuation threat following the notification issued by the civic body ordering them to vacate their accommodation within seven days.

By Riyasbabu & Lina Abdul Rahman

Published: Tue 29 Nov 2005, 1:32 PM

Last updated: Wed 8 Apr 2015, 1:22 PM

According to the bachelor residents in the area, the decision of Sharjah Municipality will make them homeless and most of them cannot afford the sky rocketing rents in the emirate.

The Maysalon area consists of mostly old Arabic villa's rented out to bachelors, mainly labourers and taxi drivers.

"I received a notice from the municipality ordering to vacate the accommodation soon. They told us to move to industrial areas situated on the outskirts of the city, within seven days. But, we can't afford to live there and we don't know how to handle the situation," said Wasim Mohammad complaining they are already in trouble because the owner of their villa has increased the rent recently.

Ahmed Khan, a resident of one of the villas echoed similar sentiments and said: "Most of us are low-income people earning Dh600 a month and we can't afford to pay high rents. Most of us work near Rolla area and if we are forced to move to Sanayah area we will have to spend a lot of money on transportation.”

He pointed out that unlike Dubai, there is no public transport system in Sharjah to travel economically forcing them to rely on taxis, which they cannot afford.

Khan added: "We are 10 to 15 people living in one villa and they will not move from there even after the civic body will disconnect their water and electricity supply because we have no option.” “We don't have anywhere to go and the authorities will have to find an alternative accommodation for us before forcing us out from the existing accommodation,” the residents said.

The Civic body has issued a notice earlier on September 24 ordering the bachelors to shift their accommodation from the Maysalon area to Industrial area within 15 days. But, bachelors continued to stay. Following which a new notice was issued on Saturday (November 26) ordering the bachelors to vacate within seven days otherwise they will have to face action by the authorities. No officials from Sharjah municipality were available for comment.