Blame it on the rain
I thought you might be interested in this photograph of a Dubai municipality truck dumping waste water in the Safa 2 residential area in Jumeirah between Al Wasl and Shaikh Zayed Road – between Safa Park and Park N Shop on Friday (January 16) at 3:30 pm.
This took place at the shared parking lot of Al Ittihad Private School in Jumeirah and another school next to it. The truck is clearly marked ‘waste water'.
How could the municipality criticise the illegal dumping of sewage water when their own trucks dump waste water wherever they want?
Dr. R. Hawker, Dubai
Abdul Majeed Sifaee, Director of Sewage and Irrigation Network Department at Dubai Municipality: “I commend the person on his initiative and thank him for bringing this to our attention. I have seen the pictures and checked with our records. The water being disposed is actually rain water.
“We had sent out our trucks over the weekend to collect rain water that had flooded some streets around the neighbourhood. The truck drivers were instructed to dispose the water in the nearest storm drain. If it was sewage that the truck was dumping then the smell would be unbearable.
“Every municipality truck is scheduled to make a certain number of visits to the sewage treatment plant (STP) per day. If our system shows that a truck has not been meeting its required number of visits then we initiate an internal investigation to track its activity. So it is not in the driver's advantage to attempt to dump anywhere but at the sewage treatment plant.''
Brokers need to be taught a lesson
Even if the rents are coming down, it's only the brokers who are benefitting as they continue to quote the old price plus the commissions, thus depriving the residents of benefits due to them (Rent Retreat).
As a result, people in general will continue to face the same problem unless the authorities introduce rules that would govern how brokers conduct their business. Now it appears as if anyone who has a broker's licence can start a real estate business, thereby earning commission in thousands.
I urge the authorities to set up a department to monitor the brokers in order to prevent them from overcharging customers.
Action should be taken against violating brokers. Unless these steps are taken, the residents will continue to pay over-priced rents.
Ahmad Hassan Al Sadi, Dubai
By George
I take exception to Nirmala Janssen mentioning George Bush as “the leader of the free world for eight long years'' (Goodbye George). What contest did George Bush win to be given this title?
Adnan Butt, Dubai
People power
Fascinating blog! Using your logic, Americans should also be responsible for the 3,000 Americans that died on 9/11 as well as over 4,000 US troops that died since 9/11. Does the same logic apply to the Palestinians that voted for Hamas (with over 1,000 dead and 6,000 injured in the past three weeks)?
Ahmad, Dubai
Editor's note: In a democratic society, it's the people who decide the fate of any leader or a party. To that extent they have the power and share the responsibility of shaping a country's destiny and, by the same token, can vote a leader or a party out. The American people took responsibility of their earlier act and removed Bush's party from power.
Customer is king
This is with reference to the Acts of Kindness article. I believe customer service differs from place to place. Sometimes even the same place may provide you with different experiences as the service rendered by one person differs from that of another. In general, I've found good responses from government offices and Emiratis.
Yousuf Mohammad, Dubai
The grey areas
You must be extremely lucky. Have you ever called etisalat to get your bill corrected or Dewa for a power reconnection and they ask you to pay the bills of someone who has left the country? Have you been to the driving schools here, the Roads and Transport Authority departments? Probably not! But yes, people of certain nationalities are treated better than others and the free zone offices are better than those in the city.
Tauqeer, Dubai
Slumdog hijack
Slumdog Millionaire is essentially a British movie, it is only the demands of the story that require it to be set in Mumbai and have an Indian cast (Who Wants to be a Slumdog Millionaire). However, the way the Indian media is trying to hijack its success as an Indian phenomenon at various awards is really imaginative and amusing. A.R. Rahman's musical score is an individual exception in its own right. Meanwhile, the reaction of the British media is composed and mature.
Waleed Mohammad, Dubai
Say goodbye to pollution
My idea for a greener environment is to focus on the individual and monitor consumer spending. Any goods or service purchased should have a label indicating how much pollution it will cause depending on factors such as how it was manufactured, the byproducts from usage and if it is recyclable after use. For example, organic milk in a paper carton is better than long life milk in a plastic bottle.
Each person can be assigned a running tally and if an individual has too many pollution points at the end of a month, the environmental police can send him/her a bill. The only way to change consumer behaviour is to hit them in their pockets. Such a practice would result in companies starting to produce goods of lower pollution levels to attract sales.
Name withheld, Dubai
Gaza in pain
Now that there is a fragile ceasefire in Gaza we hope that the catastrophic human conditions there will improve. There has been so much bloodshed and so much heartbreak.
We only hope Israel pulls out of Gaza and that life returns to normal there.
Thomas, Dubai
The UAE is the best
We are an aged couple from Chandigarh (northern Indian city). We regularly visit the UAE during the fag end of the year. This is done to escape the severe winter in India and to be under the loving care of our children who are settled here.
On every visit we are blessed with one or another pleasant experience which leaves an appreciative impression on our mind about the people of this country.
On one occasion when we were resting after an evening stroll on a bench beside the Al Wahda Street [Sharjah], we saw a seemingly poor person coming out of a department store. He was coming towards his bicycle parked near us and surprised us by extending us a courteous greeting in a typical Muslim way and enquired about our health. He did not stop at that and offered to bring tea for us. We were thoroughly impressed with his show of respect.
On another occasion at the same spot on another day, we saw an Emirati gentleman with his wife and three children disembarking from a car parked near us. The gentleman seeing us extended greetings with a ‘namaste' which is a typical Indian way of saying ‘hello'. We were moved by these two experiences and our respect for UAE residents went up by many notches.
We had already seen how motorists here extend courtesy to ladies and the aged by allowing the right of the way to them on road crossings. Keep it up UAE residents. You are the best.
D.B. Singh, Dubai
Bank needs help
Just when I thought banking in the UAE could not get any worse, this happened. I tried to access my account online last week but it was blocked. Then I tried the ATM card and it too was blocked. I called the ‘customer care(less)' number and I was told I would have to visit the branch since mine is a joint account. I went to the branch, did all the paperwork, got new ATM cards but when I tried the online access, it was still blocked.
I tried to re-register online but got an error message. Not only is the bank incapable of banking, it can't even operate a website properly.
Name withheld, Dubai
Free falling
I think the government should allow the free fall of rent to a realistic level, which will only make the country more competitive in a tough period (Rent Retreat). Let the landlords and real estate brokers, who have already made huge profits, pay their dues for the damage they have done to the society.
Vinod Nair, Dubai
People come, people go
I think it is a big mistake to compare rents in Dubai with those in other cities. The demand for housing here soared as people flocked to the UAE in the wake of the Gulf oil boom but once the boom is over, most will go back to their home countries and rents will drop. This is likely to happen by the end of 2011.
Jamal Sino, Dubai
Rent abuse
If the landlord of either a villa or a building is asking for an X amount of money as rent, the real estate agencies will ask twice that amount plus a commission. The regulation should not focus only on the rent cap but also keep a check on the practice of doubling the rent by the middlemen.
Y. M., Dubai
No drop in rents
Who says the rents have come down in Dubai? In areas such as Karama, Satwa, Bur Dubai or Deira, forget about the idea of any decrease in rent. In fact, the rents here have shot up. In one of my friends' case, the rent increased by more than 15 per cent this year even as the government stated in a report that appeared in the papers that the five per cent rent cap was still in place.
Rudy, Deira
Dump the plastic
Stories about credit card holders battling banks on issues like card fraud, overcharging and the like make me consider cutting up the plastic and sticking to cash. I have a friend who did just that and is now living a nearly debt-free life. My friend, who works in an educational institution, dumped his plastic cards after his bank refused to help him out when fraudsters managed to sneak in Dh16,000 on his bill. The bank, which ironically markets itself as a “friendly'' establishment, refused to lend an ear to his explanations. It's been over a year since that horrific episode and my friend is just a few thousand dirhams short of paying off his credit card debt and his “cash only'' spending has left him wiser.
Rex, Deira
The bus has arrived
Just a few months and so much has changed. At one time getting a taxi was as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack, that is, unless you were of certain colour, tone or was the Jumeirah-Greens-Springs-Dubai Marina crowd. Residents from Bur Dubai, Karama and Deira were treated with contempt by the men who treated taxis as their personal fiefdom.
Today, these very high and mighty souls now go about with a hungry look in their eyes, eyeing any and every person to find the elusive passenger. The people have obviously got fed up of their high-handed approach and total lack of courtesy, and adopted the much-improved public bus service that services each and every corner of Dubai with superb efficiency and convenience.
As they say every dog has his day, now after a long time it looks like the common man who always gets the worst of any and everything is king.
I say more power to the people. Keep shunning those taxis and take the public buses. They are much better.
Rahul, Dubai
