Friday, October 29, 2004

Al Naboodah Laing O'Rourke - getting away with murder?

Last month's news, I know, but poignant nevertheless. The official death toll in the airport tragedy stood at five. Eyewitnesses have always maintained it was much more than the official figure. What went unreported (underreported, if you include a small piece in KT) was that a major portion of the workforce at the organisation went on an agitation at the labour camp in Sonapur, having found scores of colleagues missing.

Workers at ANLOR have complained of ill-treatment (nothing new around here actually) and, it seems, were ordered to report to duty the very next day after the tragedy, at the same site, under the same working conditions. I mean, these guys would've made great Nazi officers.


If there's any semblance of truth in the widely circulated unofficial death toll (at least 50, and these are very conservative estimates) How did ANLOR get way with it? It seems most workers were employed illegally. Construction and Labour Supply companies routinely resort to such a practice in order to circumvent problems with visas.

That leaves us with two possibilities:

1) All bodies were sent back to India/Pak/B'desh/SL. In such a case , it would still have been extemely difficult to identify illegal immigrants

2) The 5 "official" bodies (and maybe those with valid visas) were sent over and the rest given a quiet burial.

To be honest, I have difficulty believing it could happen here right under our noses. But if what the workers claim is true, we have just witnessed the most sickening corporate cover-up in the UAE in recent times.

To be fair to the local press, Khaleej Times actually didn't go the whole hog in trying to conceal the news. A few reports were a pleasant surprise - almost as if they DID want to say something, but had their hands tied. Considering the state of affairs in the local press, it would be too much to expect KT to tell the whole truth and they didn't do a bad job of it. As far as GN is concerned.. well, what else do you expect?

A few links (all KT)

If you have anything to share, leave a comment or email me

posted by Emirates Blogger @ 10:49 AM

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Traffic troubles + The Ostrich of the month award

It's award time, folks!

The Ostrich of the month award ..:
goes to Qasim Sultan, Director, Dubai Municipality. According to Mr. Sultan, there is no problem with the Dubai Road network - t's the motorists who are actually to blame! Re-opening Mamzar, it seems, doesn't really make a difference. (All those who think it did were out on the sun for far too long) . So now you know whom to yell at when you're stuck for two hours at Al Ittihad Road / Garrhoud / Maktoum / Shindagha - at the driver next to you! He's the guy causing the problem.

Runners Up:
Letter writers in the Gulf News, specialising in traffic-related issues , who have been demanding a better transportation system. Ever since Mr. Sultan's pontification was published, they're now clamouring for stringent fines, stricter driving norms, et al . In fact, they're now on the verge of blaming each other. ..

More gems:
The Dubai municipality chief was today quoted as saying that the traffic would surely improve in 2006. (claps ring in my ears) . The Beirut tunnel could even reduce congestion at Al Ittihad (Beats me how, but lets give him a chance). But the sentence that caught my eyes went something like this : "The light rail system is a luxurious mode of public transport. It's going to be the rolls royce of traffic". This when we thought it was a easier way to commute for the common man ....

Sample this quote: "It is common for people living in major cities to experience traffic congestion."

er, it is also common for major cities to have mass transit systems connecting the commercial hubs with the suburbs. So what do the authorities propose? A mass transit system that doesn't even connect Dubai to Sharjah, where the major portion of the traffic originates . Am I to laugh or cry?


posted by Emirates Blogger @ 10:58 PM