Dubai: Inspectors of the Labourers’ Permanent Committee (LPC) will be equipped with digital cameras to record and report any violations to the midday break rule, announced a senior official.

Brigadier Mohammad Al Marri, Director General of Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department (DNRD), said on Thursday that the inspectors at companies and construction sites would carry sophisticated cameras and report any violation of the midday break daily between 12.30 and 3.00pm.

"We as a committee will enforce the midday break rules in a stringent manner and allow the workers to enjoy a deserved break between 12.30 and 3.00 pm daily. Besides, inspection patrols from the committee will be supplied with cameras to roam around work sites during the break time. Photos will be taken of those who let their labourers work during the break. The violating companies will face tough penalties," added Brig Al Marri.

Labourers in the UAE are always treated humanly and are taken care of by the authorities who keep close eye on the workers right, he said.

"Protecting workers’ rights tops the agenda of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai who is also keen to offer the workers the best means of living in the country.”

The workers’ simplest needs here are considered priority for Shaikh Mohammad who had issued different rules and regulations to make life easier for the labourers," elaborated the DNRD General Director.

Moreover, Brig Al Marri who also chairs the LPC said that it is prohibited to transport workers in ‘unsafe means of transportation such as trucks or pickups or any other means’. "Workers should only be transported in safe buses,” he stressed.

Brig. Al Marri said the inspectors would visit on a daily basis Al Qussais, Al Quoz and Jebel Ali industrial areas were most of the companies are located.

According to Abdullah Bin Sloum, head of inspection at the Labor Ministry and LPC’s deputy chairman, the inspection units of the ministry is covering all work sites in the country without any exemption.

Brig. Al Marri criticized some media outfits who reported ‘untrue, incorrect and exaggerated news about workers conditions herein’. "What a pity and shame that some media organizations could act in that way in reflecting fictitious and wrong picture concerning workers’ rights," he said.

He also lashed out at media outfits which used the phrase ‘labour protest’ whenever labourers stopped working in an attempt to express their viewpoints. "The phrase protest is false and a word of big meaning and such things never happen in our country," he concluded.