Dubai: Companies will help absorb illegal labourers who do not have a criminal record, Gulf News learnt yesterday.
Representatives of about 22 companies in Dubai and the northern emirates held a meeting with the Indian consulate last week, to discuss the manner in which to proceed in this direction.
A couple of companies who spoke to Gulf News said they would like to get clear guidelines from the authorities on the matter.
They said they would also like the Indian consulate to provide them with a list of the labourers who could be absorbed.
Venu Rajamony, Indian Consul General, yesterday said labourers who want to get their status legalised can call the dedicated toll-free number 800 5111 provided by the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department. "The number will be valid during the period of amnesty," he said.
Rajmohan Vettikulangara, labour manager of a Dubai-based contracting company, said the construction companies in the UAE have been making use of the floating labour market on a large scale.
He said: "We have a construction boom in the UAE and so the construction companies will obviously need more and more manpower. The companies can always get people from India and other Asian countries to work but that would take time, so why not utilise labourers who have been working in the UAE?
"This way the labourers will get a legal status and the companies will get experienced labour." Vettikulangara said his firm employs about 8,000 labourers but is looking for an additional 2,000 labourers.
"We have many ongoing projects and many more are going to be launched. For this we will need labourers. We are looking to get some assistance from the Labour Ministry and the Indian Consulate. We were informed that about 5,500 Indian labourers have applied for an emergency certificate. It would help us if the consulate provides us with the list of these applicants."
He said Rajamony has assured that suggestions made and interest shown by companies in regularising labourers will be forwarded to the Ministry of Labour.
Mahmoud B.A., vice-president finance of Maritime Industrial Services, a Sharjah-based company, said: "Our company is ready to provide employment to these illegal labourers ...
"But the main hurdle is how to go about it. We have asked the Indian consulate to help us in this matter. We are also looking to get assistance from the Ministry of Labour."
Toll-free number
Labourers who want to get their status legalised can call the toll free number 800 5111.
