To help a large number of Indian workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Indian Embassy opened a second Indian Workers Resource Centre (IWRC) at Sharjah. A toll-free number 800 INDIA (46342) has also been launched to which members of the Indian community can make a call from anywhere in the UAE and seek help.
Inaugurating the IWRC, Navdeep Singh Suri, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, said, “We hope it can provide counselling to Indian community members on legal matters, financial issues, personal issues they may face and create awareness about their rights and provide a multi-lingual facility where people can call and speak in their own language and get help.”
The Indian ambassador also informed the public that work on the new centre had been going on for the past six months as they felt the need of an IWRC branch in Sharjah to cater to the needs of relatively underserved and the large blue-collar community in the emirate.
The centre is located on the 22nd floor of Damas Tower opposite the Central Post Office. The first IWRC was opened by the Indian Embassy at Dubai in 2010.
Suri insisted that all people of the Indian community can make calls to the toll-free number and seek redressal of their grievances.
There is also a walk-in facility at the Sharjah centre from 8am to 8pm without appointment and the call centre helpline works round the clock, Suri announced while insisting that all the workers present there should feed the number into their mobiles right away.
The main activities of the IWRC include receiving, registering and monitoring grievance petitions and provide clarification to queries, providing legal, financial and personal counselling by experts in respective fields, conducting workers awareness campaigns across UAE, liaising with help groups, individuals, social workers and related bodies to offer assistance to Indian community members and verification of genuineness of job offers.
