Centre to help NRIs opens in Sharjah

sharjah — To assist the Indian community, especially the blue collar workers in distress, Indian Workers Resource Centre (IWRC) opened its second branch in Sharjah on Sunday.

The Indian ambassador to the UAE, Navdeep Suri inaugurated the second IWRC located on the 22nd floor of Damas Tower opposite the Central Post Office.

The first IWRC, an initiative of the government of India for the welfare of its citizens abroad, was set up in Dubai in 2010.

With the new centre, the capacity of the embassy and IWRC to assist Indians in distress has been significantly increased, said the ambassador. He said the work for the new centre had been on-going for the past six months as the embassy felt there was a need of IWRC branch in Sharjah to cater to the large bluecollar community in the emirate.

Talking about the genesis of the first IWRC in Dubai, Suri said: “Given the size of the community and range of issues raised, we at the embassy wouldn’t have the manpower or capacity to promptly reply to all those who need our assistance — which is more in Sharjah as compared to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. That’s why the need for this specialised centre arose.”

Talking about how IWRC shields and works to protect Indians, Dinesh Kumar, first secretary and head community affairs wing at the Indian embassy, said: “They receive emails and calls on a regular basis from Indians to verify the job offers they received from agents and companies. This year out of the 1078 cases of verification we received, we found out that only 73 offers were found to be genuine, the rest were bogus. This is how IWRC shields people of its community from getting duped.

“Many a times workers who are stranded do not know how to approach us and this is why our effort would be incomplete without IWRC that helps us put out the message to workers that there are systems in place to help them,” Suri said.

Suri also addressed the workers present during the inauguration in Hindi and said : “If your salary is not paid, if you feel cheated, or being ill-treated, then please take this number down and we want you to pass it on to your fellow workers. Please let them know that although you are in a foreign land but you are not alone. We are here to assist you and this centre will listen to all your issues and let us know. Do not ever hesitate to contact us.”