Expat club to the rescue: Homeless Indian workers to leave UAE

Twenty-seven Indian workers are returning home after living on a roadside in Umm Al Quwain (UAQ) for 12 days.

The workers – employees of Al Nudhum Al Haditha Electromechanic Contracting in Ras Al Khaimah – had no place to live after they had to vacate their regular accommodation.

The Indian Association in RAK took up their plight with the local authorities who, in turn, contacted the company to resolve the issue. "We have sheltered them inside our premises," said M.A Salim, the association's President. "We arrived in RAK on July 25 last year and were put up in a villa at the Al Jazeera area for one year. Then suddenly we were told that the company's lease for the villa had expired and we had to move out. We were assured that temporary accommodation would be arranged in UAQ but when we reached there we found that there was no arrangement and had to camp outdoors on a roadside. We stopped work thereafter," said Shyam Sunder, a worker from Tamil Nadu.