Stranded workers given shelter in Sharjah
Dawoodi Bohra social workers help jobless men with food, tickets
Around 65 blue-collar Indian workers were taken to a workers’ accommodation in Sharjah and provided assistance by social workers. Several others were provided with air tickets for repatriation.
Most of the workers are from the states of Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Some of the workers had come to the UAE on visit visas to look for jobs, while the others were laid off in the wake of the pandemic.
Around 85 workers were staying at an under-construction building in Industrial Area 3 for almost three months, Adnan Haji, a Sharjah-based Indian businessman, told Gulf News.
Haji Mustafa and Sharrah Kapadia, members of the Dawoodi Bohra community from India, are helping them through a food donation drive. They are now stuck in Sharjah’s Industrial Area because of the coronavirus pandemic, with no money on them and nowhere to go.
Desperate to go home
Gulf News visited the workers in Industrial Area 3 and spoke to them. The workers said they were very desperate to go back to their home as they had neither jobs nor money.
The workers are from various construction and cleaning companies. Haji, the Indian businessman, has provided relief to the workers in whatever way possible over recent months.
Some workers who had lost their jobs were sleeping in the rough in an under-construction building for almost three months. Haji said that he was doing his best to provide them with help until they returned home. He has appealed to the authorities concerned to end their misery by arranging for their repatriation.