DOHA: Shocking facts about the condition of some labour accommodations in the country have been unveiled during the inspection campaigns being waged by different municipalities as part of implementing the new law banning such facilities in residential areas.
Almost one month after the deadline set by the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning for relocating labour accommodations from residential areas ended, the authorities say that they are facing a difficult task in implementing the law.
Going by what the officials say, it would take several more months to relocate all labour accommodations from residential areas across the country. The Doha Municipality is expecting to clear all major residential areas in the city of such facilities in four months, a local Arabic daily quoted a senior municipal official as saying.
The officials say that they have come across various obstacles and even some surprises during the campaigns.
An official of the Al Rayyan Municipality cited an incident to the daily where the inspectors found a villa in the Maidir area that accommodated 145 workers belonging to five companies. More than 15 workers had been put up in one room.
Even more surprisingly, the workers had been sleeping in shifts, due to shortage of space to accommodate all of them at one time. When 70 workers go out for work, the other 70 plus workers take their turn to sleep.
One of the major obstacles faced by the inspectors was that many workers do not know the actual owner of the house that they live in. The buildings are subletted by many agents and in some cases they are passed through four or five agents.
If the authorities wanted to issue a warning to the violators, there is no one to accept the warning in many cases. Workers are unwilling because they don't know who will be responsible for paying the fine. The inspectors will then have to identify the real owner, for which they have to look for the electricity bill or the tenancy contract.
Even when the owners are identified and approached by the inspectors, they would say that they are not aware of the law.
Most house owners think that the workers are responsible for paying the fine for a violation. The inspectors will then explain the whole procedures to the owners, who in turn would ask for more time to comply with the law.
Some accommodations constructed without a building licence were also detected during the inspections for which the owners would face a fine.
Each municipality has set up special sections to monitor the implementation of the law and their offices have been flooded with complaints from nationals and residents regarding the continuing presence of labourers in several residential areas.
After the deadline for relocating labour accommodations from residential areas ended on November 1, the Al Rayyan Municipality had received 170 complaints regarding violations of the law. The Doha Municipality received 49 complaints over the past one month.
"We are receiving 10 to 15 complaints daily. We visit the locations concerned to check if the complaints are genuine. In 40 per cent of the cases, we have forced the workers to shift to the Industrial Area," Hadi Al Azba of Al Rayyan Municipality was quoted as saying by the daily.
"When the inspectors visit an accommodation the workers would go hiding or they would run away. And we don't have powers to chase them," he added.
Hamad Al Shahwani of Doha Municipality said, acting on public complaints, the municipal inspectors had issued warnings in 47 cases to relocate the workers in one month. In 99 percent of the cases, the house owners had asked for more time to comply with the law. He said many workers were reluctant to relocate because they could not find alternative accommodations.
"We are implementing the law gradually. All the major residential areas in Doha city will be cleared of labour accommodations in four months," said Al Shahwani.
© The Peninsula 2011
