Dubai: Shattered Dreams of Andhra Migrant Labour - V

Published in Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle on March 13, 2007
By Syed Akbar
Dubai, March 12: Just imagine. Twelve to 15 people living in a 10 feet by 15 feet poorly lit room with bad air-conditioning facility. About a hundred people using a single toilet. And two dozen people using one small LPG stove to cook their food.
This is the other side of Dubai, which boasts of being the fastest growing city on the earth. Dubai, with all its construction boom, might present a picture of high-rise buildings with spacious rooms and wide aisles. But the people, whose hands made the modern Dubai look beautiful, languish in narrow rooms with bad sanitation and inhuman living standards.
Hundreds of thousands of illegal migrant construction workers or "Kalli Valli" live in tin-roofed structures called "labour camps". A visitor to any labour camp is welcomed by a rows of narrow rooms with broken doors and stinking toilets. There's no proper drainage facility and even the drinking water is not safe. Since the rooms are narrow, the workers are forced to cook outside and the troubles begin when it rains or the climate is inclement.
The middlemen, mostly from Kerala, take advantage of the illegal status of Andhra migrant workers and collect exorbitant rents from them. UAE Rules stipulate that there should be a rate contract for renting a premises. The person executing the contract should hold valid employment or resident visa. Since Kalli Valli workers are illegal, they cannot enter into rent contract directly with the owner.
Middlemen hire the premises on nominal rents and sublet them for higher rents. As much as 3500 Dirhams (Rs 42,000) is collected as rent for a 10 ft by 15 ft room. More number of Kalli Valli workers are accommodated in a room so that they could save on rent. For instance, if 14 people rent the room, each one of them pays 250 Dirhams and in case only 10 people are accommodated, the individual contribution
goes up to 350 Dirhams.
Those who cannot afford even 50 Dirhams as rent "hire" roof tops on a monthly "rental" of 35 Dirhams. Their essentials are kept in the room but they have to sleep on roof, rain or shine, winter or summer. Thirty-five-year-old Ravi Ramachandran, who lost his voice after an accident,is one among hundreds of such "roof top" dwellers in Dubai and Sharjah.
Lean-built Ponnuri Gangadhar of Chandurthi mandal in Karimnagar thought that he would lead a happier life in Dubai. Now after undergoing all the turmoil and troubles for over two years, he wants to return home.
"I will never visit Dubai again. Dubai looks beautiful in pictures. But when it comes to reality, it is the ugliest city, at least for us, the so-called illegal migrants," he says.
Gangadhar's daughter-in-law committed suicide on February 9 and his son was taken into custody on the charge of abetting suicide. His wife is bed-ridden. Now Gangadhar has no passport. He does not have even money to return home and stand beside his wife in this hour of crisis.
He has applied for "emergency certificate" or "out pass" from the Consulate to leave the Emirates.
Every day dozens of Andhra workers queue up outside the Indian Consulate in Dubai to obtain such certificates, which are mandatory for those who do not possess passports. After obtaining the EC or OP, they have to surrender before UAE immigration authorities and undergo mandatory imprisonment and pay fine before being allowed to leave for India. The Indian Consulate issued about 4000 ECs in 2006, which is more than double the number of certificates issued in 2005. This sums up how fed up the Andhra workers are over bad facilities and inhuman working conditions.
Poor sanitation and impure drinking water are responsible for premature deaths in labour camps. Enquiries revealed that on an average 20 people die due to illness and infectious diseases. On an average over 10,000 people report sick every month at various labour camps. A day's bed rest means 60 Dirham cut in the income.
Migrant worker Sivaratri Hanumanthu wakes up at 3.00 am and queues up outside the toilet to finish his daily chores by 5.00 am before waiting for the bus to go to the construction site. He shares his room with 25 people.
Kalli Valli workers will have no option but to bear the bad sanitary conditions. Still they prefer the labour camps because there's a bus pick-up facility from there. Moreover, no one allows illegal workers to stay on their premises for fear of police trouble.
But a few people like J Narasaiah do not find any problem being a Kalli Valli. "As illegal migrant workers, we can work anywhere we like. We can stay off work whenever we want," he argues. Narasaiah, despite his "freedom" is unable to visit India. His father died two months ago and he is now making rounds of Indian Consulate for an emergency certificate to visit home.
Father of two P Gangadhar resigned from SS Mills in Nizamabad two months ago and he is now currently on a visit visa to Dubai. His visit visa is due to expire shortly. "The conditions here are bad and unimaginable of a big city like Dubai. I feel like returning home. But I had spent Rs 1 lakh to visit Dubai. If I return now, I will be in a debt trap. I have now no option but to become a Kalli Valli till my debts are cleared," he says.
Gangadhar's daughter is in degree and his son is doing electrical engineering. He preferred Dubai after he learnt that he could earn Rs 20,000 there as against Rs 2,000 in Nizamabad. Now Gangadhar like many others have realised that living in Dubai is a costly affair and not a comfortable one.
One major doubt that continues to rack the brains of illegal migrant workers is, "why are the police not arresting us when they know we are overstaying?"
"Only the UAE authorities have the answer. And they will not come out with the solution till the construction boom is over. Till then we poor migrant workers will have to bear the troubles," bemoans Gowlika Raju, a graduate-turned-construction labour from Adilabad. Raju dreamt big of Dubai before boarding the light at Hyderabad. His parents have fixed his marriage and Raju cannot return home because
he does not have a passport.

Dubai: Shattered Dreams of Andhra Migrant Labour - IV

Published in Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle on March 12, 2007
By Syed Akbar
Dubai, March 11: Thirty-year-old charming Chakali Siddaramulu boarded the flight to Dubai two years ago with the fond hope of making it big in the city of gold and fortune. He had seen his father toiling all through to make both ends meet and Siddaramulu wanted to give a happy retired life to his parents by earning the magical Dirhams.
But the Dame Luck willed otherwise. Today Siddaramulu lies in coma, with no attendant beside, in a Dubai hospital. His dreams are shattered and so are the hopes of his poverty-hit family back home in Nizamabad. An illegal migrant worker, Siddararamulu, met with an accident at a construction site on February 27, 2006. Since then he has been battling for life in comatose at Rashidiya Hospital in Dubai.
Unlike hundreds of thousands of illegal migrant workers or Kalli Valli, Siddaramulu had his passport with him when he met with the accident. The problem is that Siddaramulu had been sub-contracted four times and none of the companies is willing to bear the medical bill, which now runs into many thousand Dirhams.

"His condition is turning worse by the day. Excepting responding to external
stimuli, Siddaramulu has been a living-dead for over 12 months. His family is
poor and is unable to bear the medical expenses. We are looking for donors to clear the medical bills and send him to India," observes Joseph Bobby of Valley of Love, which has been taking care of Indian migrant workers in hospitals.
"The hi-fi life of this fastest growing city on earth masks the sorrows and
sufferings of hundreds of thousands of illegal migrant construction workers who make up 30 per cent of the total population. And with no protection under UAE labour laws, death and injury always stare at the illegal construction labour, particularly those from the backward districts of Andhra Pradesh. Siddaramulu is just the tip of the iceberg ," says Joseph, who is being looked as a messiah by the injured workers.
Though death and injury at construction sites is one of most troubling factors,
UAE officials conveniently overlook it. They just limit their exercise to legal
migrants and do not bother to think of illegal construction workers, who constitute the majority among the non-nationals in the Emirates.
A visit to Rashidiya Hospital tells the sorrowful tales of Telugu migrant workers who need urgent medical attention, but has no money to pay for the surgery. Even those who managed to undergo emergency medicare are not in a position to leave the hospital, pending clearance of medical bills.
Lying on one of the beds in Rashidiya Hospital in Dubai is a Telugu-speaking person who calls himself "Shankaraiah". Except this name, he cannot remember or recall any name, not even his wife's name. He lost memory after he met with an accident and now stands as a personification of suffering of Telugu migrants in UAE. Like "Shankaraiah", there are hundreds of construction workers, who have either lost their limbs or mental balance and memory in accidents while on duty.
Worse, UAE officials do not seem to bother to maintain records of the death, injury or suicide cases of illegal migrant workers or Kalli Valli. This is clearly evident from a comparison of the figures available with local officials and those with the Indian authorities in the UAE. The disparity between the figures speak voluminous of the discrimination illegal Andhra migrant workers undergo in the foreign land.
The Indian Consulate in Dubai has recorded 971 death cases in 2005 and 1157 deaths in 2006. The number of deaths on construction sites and suicides run into a couple of hundreds. And most of the victims are from Andhra Pradesh, according to an official of the Indian Consulate in Dubai.
But UAE officials put the figures for all nationalities including Indians for the last three years to hardly a hundred. This simply shows that UAE authorities record only the deaths and suicide cases of legal migrant workers, who are on a valid employment visa. And UAE has over five lakh illegal migrant workers, mostly from Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts in Andhra Pradesh.
According to sources, nearly one-third of deaths that are reported to the Indian Consulate and other Indian authorities are work-related. Indian Consulate officials admit that of the 1157 deaths that were reported in 2006, about 100 are suicide cases. But there is no official break-up of statistics on deaths of illegal migrant workers from Andhra Pradesh.
According to officials, at least 25 labourers are admitted in UAE hospitals with critical injuries every month. About 60 to 65 per cent of migrant workers needing medical attention are from Andhra Pradesh.
"These people do not have money to pay for medical bills. Since they are not legally employed we find it hard to convince labour courts on compensation. Several workers have become mentally insane due to head injuries. They cannot even recollect the names of their family members or the name of their village or district. We recognise that they are from Andhra Pradesh because they speak Telugu. They do not have even passports or other supporting documents," Joseph told this correspondent.
Chittepu Srinivas Reddy from Nizamabad district speaks incoherently and doctors advice him physiotherapy at least for one year. His IQ is 13/15 as against normal of 15/15. His father died two months ago and he was not informed of the tragedy that befell him. Srinivas Reddy sold away his ancestral land in Nizamabad to buy visa and air ticket to Dubai.
According to Consul-General of India in Dubai Venu Rajamony, they have taken up the cases for compensation of workers who have died while on duty. As many as 53 cases were settled in 2006 and a sum of Rs 203.5 million was received as compensation. The amount was forwarded to district authorities in India for onward distribution to the beneficiaries.

Dubai: Shattered Dreams of Andhra Migrant Labour - III

Published in Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle on March 11, 2007
By Syed Akbar
Dubai, March 10: Life has been a bed of thorns for 25-year-old Kadimi Ravi Kumar, an illegal migrant from Rajahmundry, ever since he stepped into Dubai 42 months ago. Lured by the glossy advertisements in newspapers about the high living standards in Dubai, Ravi Kumar mortgaged his mother's jewellery to buy a ticket to this Arabian city.
For two years Ravi Kumar had no problems and he managed to send a few thousand Rupees to his parents back home in Rajahmundry city. But problems began for him, when Ravi Kumar was sub-let to another construction firm. His employer disappeared after extracting work from him for 10 months. Ravi Kumar is now in a debt trap, both in Dubai and Rajahmundry. Half of his daily earnings of 60 Dirhams goes towards
payment of interest.
Ravi Kumar is a classic example of exploitation of Andhra illegal migrant workers by unscrupulous construction companies and fly-by-night agents. There are hundreds of thousands of Ravi Kumars buried beneath the foundation of high rise buildings and massive flyovers.
Andhra illegal migrant workers are the most exploited lot when it comes to payment of wages. They are hired on hourly payment basis but the wages are paid after a customary lock-in period of 45 days. And quite often, "supply companies", as local manpower supply agents are called, disappear into thin air without paying the wages.
Since a majority of illegal migrant workers from Andhra Pradesh are illiterate and hail from the backward Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts, they cannot remember the name of their supply company or agent. What all they carry with them is just a telephone or mobile number of their "employer" and it serves as no proof to file a case in a labour court. Even otherwise, as illegal migrant workers or Kalli Valli, they are not eligible for a claim on wages, leave alone compensation.
"Our "employer" simply disappeared. I was taken into custody and my passport was sent to Jumerah jail where it went "missing". Without a passport, neither I can return to India nor continue in Dubai as I do not have money to bear the expenses. I am now with a new "employer" and as of now there's no problem with my wages," says Ravi Kumar attempting to put up a brave face, though the trouble he had undergone is clearly visible from his talk.
Fairly-built M Srinivas from Kodimial mandal of Karimnagar district is another victim of non-payment of wages. Scores of illegal migrants workers with whom this correspondent interacted at various labour camps in Dubai and Sharjah poured out their woes saying that they were under paid and even these low wages were not paid on time. They also complain of non-payment of wages.
Visit any labour camp or construction site in Dubai, Sharjah or Abu Dhabi and the most common complaint from Andhra construction workers is the withholding of wages by employers. Many Kalli Valli workers told this correspondent that heir "employers" regularly withheld wages.
Enquires revealed that most of the "employers" or "supply companies" had defaulted wages for periods ranging between one month and six months. The Andhra workers do not have anything in writing to prove that they had worked with a certain firm for a certain period of time. Most of them do not know the name of their employer or the company or even where the work site is located.
To ensure complete anonymity, the workers are taken to the construction site from the labour camps before the break of the dawn and dropped back only after the sun is set. Construction sites are changed regularly and it is a "normal" practice in UAE to withhold salaries for a minimum period of 45 days.
For instance, if a worker reports at construction site on January 1, he gets his
first wages on February 25. This is a deliberate strategy on the part of the employer to withhold the workers from leaving the site before the completion
of the building. A worker leaving the work half-way through the "contract"
forfeits the wages.
Allem Mallaiah from Konaraopet mandal in Karimnagar district amply sums up the plight of illegal migrant workers when he observes rather sadly, "we are just herds. We have no option but to follow the contractor. Wherever he takes us, we have to go. He pulls the rope and we follow him". Incidentally, like many Kalli Valli workers in his labour camp, Mallaiah too did not receive wages for six months.
Any delay in payment of wages or withholding of salaries for periods beyond one month severely cripples the financial condition of the migrant workers.
They fall into a debt trap and the interest on the money they borrowed back home to pay for recruitment mounts up. Moreover, they will not be in a position to send money to their families.
According to Venu Rajamony, consul-general of India in Dubai, the labour section received over 1408 complaints in 2006 as against 760 the previous year. Last year the consulate settled 1310 cases.
This correspondent has come across hundreds of cases of Andhra illegal migrant workers suffering heavily because of withholding or non-payment of wages. There are also dozens of cases where migrant workers skip a meal either because they don't have enough money left with them or they want to save a few Dirhams so that they could send home a "handsome sum".
According to a recent report by Human Rights Watch, "withholding one-and-
a-half or two months' wages as security to prevent workers from running away to a better job appears to be accepted as a custom among construction companies in the UAE. When workers protest or complain about withheld wages, their complaint is not based on this customary withholding, but about wages withheld beyond that period".
For a legal migrant worker in UAE, changing jobs is a troublesome and long process and requires the approval of the original employer. But this is not so with Kalli Valli workers. This is the reason why recruiters prefer Kalli Valli workers, so that they can be changed from site to site depending on the demand for work, without inviting labour problems. And they can also skip wages quite often.
"The illegal migrant workers are not protected by UAE labour laws. We have to educate our people back in India that people should not come on visit visas
in search of employment. It is a risky proposition. Only those who gain entry into UAE on valid employment visas are protected by labour Rules," points our BS Mubarak, consul (labour) in the Consulate-General of India, Dubai.
Though there is no official record, it is estimated that unscrupulous employers in UAE regularly save as high as 10 lakh Dirhams a month by not paying wages to illegal migrant workers.

Dubai: Shattered Dream of Andhra Migrant Labour - II

Deccan Chronicle/Asian Age, March 10, 2007
By Syed Akbar
Dubai, March 9: Young Undedi Vincent Vijaychandra, a well qualified electrician but illegal migrant, wants to surrender to the UAE immigration official so that he could be deported to India. But his half a dozen attempts so far proved futile. The authorities turned his request down saying that the jails are full with more than 14,000 Indians and there's no further room left for him.
Every day dozens of people line up outside the Jumerah jail pleading with
authorities to imprison them. UAE Rules stipulate prison term and or penalty for overstay before deportation. Imprisonment is the shortest route to return to India for those who work illegally in Dubai and other Emirates.
"We need recommendation to go to jail. I can't understand why we are not arrested," argues Vijaychandra, who is desperately trying to leave Dubai. Vijayachandra is a victim of dubious recruitment agencies that lure unsuspecting people with "bundles of money" in Dubai. And there are hundreds of thousands of Vijaychandras in the UAE.
The seeds of illegal migration to Dubai are sown back in the dusty villages of
Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Adilabad and Warangal districts in the backward Telangana region where prospective migrant construction workers are literally hand-picked by unscrupulous recruitment agents.
Investigations by this newspaper revealed that these recruitment agents, both in India and UAE, act in connivance with immigration staff at Nagpur, Hyderabad, Dubai and Sharjah international airports. They take advantage of the administrative and technical system being in vogue at Nagpur and Hyderabad airports to pump in to and pump out of Dubai and Sharjah airports hundreds of illiterate migrant construction workers.
While immigration desks at all the international airports in India are manned by personnel drawn from hi-profile Intelligence Bureau, strangely enough the airports in Hyderabad and Nagpur are manned by local police. This leave a wide gap in immigration controlling system at these two airports. And this explains the reason why almost all the illegal migrant or Kalli Valli workers working in UAE are from Andhra Pradesh. Whenever AP authorities tightens the immigration system, the workers go to Nagpur airport. Interestingly, Air Arabia operates low cost flight services between Nagpur and Sharjah.
Though the immigration system are relatively tight in Dubai, there's no proper check in Sharjah or Abu Dhabi airports.
An official at the Indian Consulate in Dubai admits lapses in immigration system particularly at Nagpur and Hyderabad airports. "Just tighten the system and the problem is solved once and for all. Follow the Emigration check rules strictly and there will be no Kalli Valli workers in UAE," he points out.

Kokkula Lakshman from Potharam village in Qatlapur mandal of Karimnagar district entered UAE through Nagpur airport three years ago. Today he earns eight Dirhams (Rs 96) per hour and pays two Dirhams (Rs 24) to his agent as commission.
Lakshman admits that he found his way through the immigration desk by bribing the officials. "Just slip Rs 200 in the passport and the official puts the departure stamp. If we do not offer money, we are asked to stand aside and only on bribing we are allowed to pass through the immigration check," he says.
K Ravi Kumar, who stays in a labour camp at Sonapur, supports the charge of Lakshman. "We are illiterate. We simply dream big of Dubai without knowing the troubles that lay ahead of us. Had the immigration officials in Hyderabad and Nagpur been sincere, the problem of Kalli Valli workers would not have arisen at all," he points out. Others in the labour camp at Sonapur nod in agreement.
Interviews with Kalli Valli workers at various labour camps and construction sites by this correspondent revealed that recruitment agents go round the villages in backward Telangana districts in search of able bodied persons luring them with the "golden" Dirhams and the "wonderful" life of Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. The currency difference between Dirham and Rupee is another attraction offered to unsuspecting prospective migrant construction workers.
The agents get commission not only from the migrant workers but also from the employers in the UAE. According to rough estimates, an agent makes between Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000 per migrant construction worker depending upon the latter's innocence and financial affordability. They also guide gullible workers on which type of visa they should apply for, visit or employment visa.
Indian migrant workers whom this correspondent interviewed point out that these agents back home in India work on behalf of the construction or recruitment firms in UAE. There are also instances of some construction firms sending their scouts directly to Telangana districts in search of cheap labour.
According to sources, there are also firms that recruit migrant workers from India, particularly Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala for sub-contracting them to employers in UAE. These companies wear the illegal mark of "manpower supply" agencies but carry out illegal activities by confiscating the passports of migrant workers to have full control over them.
Life becomes horrible for migrant workers on sub-contract lease if they meet
with an accident. Several such workers are stay put in hospitals as they could not clear the medical bills. They are also not eligible for labour compensation.
Migrant workers, who gain entry into UAE on employment visa, are offered very low salaries since the recruitment companies or construction firms spend money on the recruitment and the visa process. Local labour rules stipulate that employers should pay certain fees to the government for each migrant labourer they recruit into UAE. The companies spend around 200 Dirhams towards visa request and 1,000 Dirhams for employment visa issuance fee.
The employers should also bear the cost of air fare and provide free accommodation.
To avoid this, unscrupulous construction companies prefer the channel of visit visa or "Kalli Valli". They need not pay any visa fee and also they are not liable for compensation to their workers if they are "Kalli Valli". No wonder then that the agents have found a safe haven for Kalli Valli workers in the backward areas of Andhra Pradesh.

Dubai: Shattered Dreams Of Andhra Migrant Labour - I

Deccan Chronicle/Asian Age, March 9, 2007
By Syed Akbar
Dubai, March 8: As the mosques that dot the landscape of Dubai reverberate with the call for the pre-dawn Fajr prayers, thousands of young people line up outside numerous labour camps in search of daily labour.
Before the dawn break out, dozens of buses arrive, one after other, and the line grows shorter. By 6 am, the entire crowd disappears and the labour camps wear a deserted look, only to brim back with activity after 9.00 pm.
This is the daily routine outside the so-called labour camps, which house illegal migrant workers, mostly from Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts in Andhra Pradesh.
With the "Kalli Valli" (illegal in local language) tag attached to their names, these migrant workers spend life in Dubai searching for work on daily basis.
Since they lack legal migrant worker status they are not assured of regular
employment. They are hired on daily basis and paid wages per each hour they work, with no medical facility or labour rights protection.
Sandagari Sai Reddy, 25, a migrant worker from Nizamabad, stands as the tall example of how Kalli Valli workers are exploited by construction firms.
Sai Reddy came to Dubai two years ago and after undergoing untold sufferings he wants to return to India. He suffered a fracture at a construction site and is now confined to a wheel chair. He was admitted in Rashidiya Hospital and was discharged last week. But the hospital authorities do not want to send Sai Reddy out of the hospital as he had not cleared 7000 Dirhams medical bill.
With Dubai becoming the fastest growing city on the earth with an unparalleled boom in the construction industry, unscrupulous recruitment agents and so-called manpower companies have turned this bustling city of high-rise buildings and wide roads into a haven for illegal migrant workers.
And the victims are mostly from the backward areas of Nizamabad and Karimnagar and some hail from neighbouring Warangal and Adilabad districts in Telangana region.
Investigations by this newspaper revealed that more than four lakh Telugu-
speaking construction workers are held up in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other Emirates in UAE as illegal migrants thanks to the well-chalked out strategy by recruiting agents, construction companies and UAE officials to pump in cheap labour to sustain the construction boom.

Of the four lakh and odd Telugu illegal migrants in UAE, a whopping 3.7 lakh do not posses passports and hence no national identity, except the Telugu language they speak. The common complaint is that recruiting agents had taken away their passports on arrival in UAE. Neither they do possess any documents that establish their nationality or bring them under the purview of the UAE labour laws for compensation, in case of injury or death at the work place.
"All my dreams have been shattered. Now I am not in a position to stand, let alone resume work at construction site. My employer does not want to bear the medical expenses as I am a Kalli Valli. Unless I pay 7000 Dirhams (Rs 84,000) the hospital will not allow me to leave the country. Moreover, I have to obtain emergency certificate from the Indian Consulate and pay penalty to UAE authorities for overstay. I will have to bear the cost of air ticket. I came to Dubai after borrowing Rs 1 lakh and I am yet to clear the debt," Sai Reddy
points out.
Like Sai Reddy, Kalli Valli workers cannot leave UAE for the simple reason that they do not have passports. Some of them have been staying in Dubai for as long as 12 years without hope of ever returning to India. Dudekula Shaik Saheb has been visiting the Indian Consulate in Dubai for the last six months.
He has completed 12 years of over stay in Dubai and wants to return home. But the main hurdle in his journey back to India is the passport, which he had given away to his agent long back.
The Indian Embassy allows Kalli Valli workers to travel to India only in emergency situations provided they prove they are Indians. Coming from lower strata of society and steeped in illiteracy, it takes years for some of the illegal migrant workers to prove their nationality.
That only 4000 "Out Passes" or "Emergency Certificates" were issued by Indian Consulate in Dubai last year, against more than four lakh illegal migrants in UAE, reveals the enormity of hurdles they face if they want to return to India.
Luckily for these migrant workers, the local police are not after them. The police do not swoop on illegal migrant workers for the simple reason that they contribute a lot to the economy of UAE and do not expect anything in return. Only those involved in theft, murder and other crimes are arrested and deported.
While a majority of the illegal migrant workers have been duped in by unscrupulous agents, a few thousands have voluntarily turned "illegal" by jumping their original employer to work as daily wagers at construction sites.
Interaction with over 200 migrant workers at labour camps in Al-Satwa, Rolla Square, Sonapur, Bur Dubai and Al-Khos revealed that recruiting agents are not always at fault. Though the agents are blamed for pumping in illegal workers to UAE as it offers them lucrative commission, in many cases the workers themselves are responsible for their plight and misery.
A Mallaiah from Nampally village of Vemulawada mandal in Karimnagar is a victim of recruitment scandal. He was lured with a promise of good job and comfortable stay but he faced reality only after he landed in Dubai. He has been working as illegal migrant worker for the past five years and now that he wants to go back to his village to perform the marriage of his daughter, he can't. Because he does not possess a passport. "I will commit suicide if you do not help me," he pleads with Indian Consulate officials.
Inquiries by this correspondent revealed that recruitment agents put two options before prospective migrant workers over the type of visa they would like to have to visit UAE. One is "employment visa" that costs more and the other "visit visa" that comes at a relatively cheaper rate. But the agents insist that the workers take the "visit visa". The visit visa saves the employer from legal and labour formalities in UAE.
Little do the workers know that this "visit visa" will later turn a bane for them when they really want to return home. The visit visa expires after 59 days (extendible by another 30 days) and after this the workers become illegal
migrants or "Kalli Valli".
The visit or "Kalli Valli" visa including the air fare costs anything between
Rs 50,000 and Rs 75,000 while the employment visa that guarantees legal migrant status comes for Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 1,50,000. Since most of the workers from Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Warangal districts hail from lower strata of society with poor financial backgrounds, they prefer to live illegally as Kalli Valli.
Enquiries revealed that some of the workers intentionally turn Kalli Valli even after gaining entry as legal migrants through employment visa. This is because the salaries offered by legal employers is only 450 to 500 UAE Dirhams while as Kalli Valli each worker earn 60 to 70 Dirhams a day or about 1800 Dirhams a month.
"What these workers fail to understand is that though they earn low wages as
legal migrants, they are eligible for health and labour benefits including
compensation in case of accidents. But unfortunately, the desire to earn more
makes these migrants to work as Kalli Valli," says an official of the Indian
Consulate.
The modus operandi is quite simple. After a worker on visit visa lands in Dubai, the agent takes away his passport and makes him Kalli Valli. Once the worker loses his passport he becomes an illegal migrant. With the passport goes away all the rights. He is not eligible for compensation in case of injuries or death in accident at the work site. The UAE labour or the immigration department does not recognise the rights of Kalli Valli workers.
Taking away of passport and turning workers Kalli Valli is a deliberate attempt on the part of the recruiting agents, bigwigs in the construction industry and the officials in the UAE government. Kalli Valli workers live on the constant threat of being arrested by the police. But their free movement and negligible number of arrests or detention by police give credence to the charge that the UAE government wants illegal workers to stay in Dubai and other Emirates to help the construction industry.
"Not only the Kalli Valli workers come as labour on hourly basis but also do not have any legal rights to claim compensation. This suits the booming construction industry in UAE as the employers can simply wash their hands off by paying Dirhams on hourly basis," points out social activist Uma Paddy, who has been counselling Kalli Valli workers for the past 10 years.
Since the Kalli Valli workers do not have passports or other legal documents that prove their legal status or national identity, employers exercise an unreasonable degree of control over them. It is interesting that though UAE courts have described the practice of taking away passports as illegal, the Emirates government has not initiated any steps to end this menace. Those who want to be deported to India need to surrender to immigration authorities in Dubai. But the authorities turn down Kalli Valli workers saying that the jails are full and there's no space to lodge more prisoners. This makes the process of leaving Dubai more difficult for illegal Indians.
"I have approached the immigration authorities at least half a dozen times. But they are not willing to imprison me. If they jail me, at least I can leave Dubai," says Dokuri Veera Reddy of Asireddypalli village in Karimnagar district. He preferred Mumbai airport to Hyderabad three years ago when he landed in Dubai in search of employment.

Robotic surgery to treat cervical and ovarian cancers

2007
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Feb 8: Now it's robotic surgery to treat cervical and ovarian cancers. A team of US cancer specialists is in the city to train local doctors in this new surgical system, which is fast becoming popular in the West.

Robotic surgery is an advanced version of laproscopy, but involves almost no blood loss. Only a small (1 cm) incision is made and the surgeon operates upon the patient sitting on a monitor away from the operating bed.

According to Dr Linus Chuang of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA, the robotic surgery is relatively painless. "This subsequently leads to decreased need for blood transfusions and speedier recovery to daily livings and works," he says.
Dr Linus is part of the robotic surgeons' team which is in the city to attend the two-day international cancer care, education and research conference beginning Saturday. Once the local oncologists are trained in the robotic surgical methods, robotic surgery will become a norm in Hyderabad.

"At present the cost is quite high. Once it is introduced in India, the cost will come down drastically," says Apollo Hospitals senior oncologist Dr Vijay Anand P Reddy, who is organising the international cancer conference.

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women in India and the human papilloma virus is the culprit. It is traditionally treated by radical hysterectomy or radiation therapy. Robotic surgery will soon replace the traditional methods of cancer management.

"The intuitive nature of the robotic approach, as well as the magnification, dexterity, and flexibility, combined with the significant reduction in surgeon's fatigue offered by the robotic system, will allow and encourage more surgeons to use this minimally invasive approach to radical hysterectomy," says Dr Linus.

The robotic surgical device consists of an ergonomically designed surgeon’s console, a patient-side cart with three to four interactive robotic arms, a high-performance 3-dimensional vision system and seven degrees of mobility.
Because of the improved visualisation, control and dexterity, the robotic surgical device overcomes the limitations of traditional laparoscopic technology, he said.