By IANS
Dubai : Authorities here were likely to deport 160 workers, including 90 Indian nationals, part of a group of over 4,000 labourers who were detained for indulging in violence Saturday outside a Jebel Ali labour camp in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The 4,000-odd workers, a large majority of them Indians, were demanding higher wages and better living conditions. They were detained by the Dubai police after their protest turned violent.
The issue was resolved Tuesday after a meeting between Indian embassy officials and Dubai authorities.
“The matter is now being resolved amicably,” Talmiz Ahmed, Indian ambassador to UAE, was quoted as saying by Khaleej Times.
The ambassador also clarified that only those workers against whom the police had firm evidence of having indulged in violence and causing damage to public and private properties would be prosecuted by the authorities.
“Other Indian workers will have the option to either stay on in Dubai and continue to work for the local contracting company, or else leave their job voluntarily and return to India. However, if they decide not to quit, they will have to furnish an affidavit swearing they will not indulge in any such illegal activities and will fulfil all their contractual obligations,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dubai Police chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said, “We have firm evidence against those workers who indulged in violence and they will all have to face legal action.”
There are around 1.5 million Indians in the UAE, of whom 800,000 are in Dubai, 300,000 in Abu Dhabi and the rest spread across the other five emirates of Ajman, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras-al Khaimah and Umm al-Quwain. Many of them work as contract labourers in the UAE’s booming construction industry.
In June, the UAE government had announced a three-month amnesty scheme for all foreign workers present illegally in the country to regularise their status according to the law or alternatively they could leave the country without penalty.