Monday, May 28, 2012

EMBASSY FAILS TO ADDRESS COMPLAINT

Raji Unnikrishnan
raji@dt.bh

businessman has alleged that the Indian Embassy has roped in a labour issue against him only to ward off his complaint. Radhakrishnan Jaganathan an Indian national had earlier filed a complaint that his Chinese counterpart had cheated him of BD25,000. Mr. Jaganathan claimed that the embassys labour officer had denied him permission to meet Indian Ambassador Dr. Mohan Kumar. He added that the officer had humiliated him asked him to leave when he demanded justice from the embassy. Mr. Jaganathan had approached the embassy on December 30, 2011, after his attempts for justice failed at the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and Chinese Embassy over his financial row. His request was kept for Dr. Kumars consideration, who was out of Bahrain at the time. I cannot do anything without the embassys help as the Chinese Embassy and Foreign Affairs are also involved. However, the

Mr. Jaganathan Indian Embassy has failed to help me even after five months, said Mr. Jaganathan. The embassy First Secretary had told me to meet the labour officer to discuss the matter with the ambassador. I approached the officer five times neither did he allow me to meet Dr. Kumar nor did he do the needful for my case. Mr. Jaganathan finally demanded an acknowledgement for the document he submitted, which the officer refused. Subsequent to this, he asked me to get out of his office in front of many people and told me that I cannot meet the Ambassador. When I told him I was recording his conversation, he lowered his voice, said Mr. Jaganathan. The officer later called Mr Jaganathan and demanded that he surrender the passports of three of

his employees. These employees had stolen my machinery and had run away from my company. Two were arrested and their passports are with the police now, while the third employee is missing, he said. He said that the labour officer insisted that he would do the needful for his case only if he surrendered the passports of the employees. My case was registered in December while this issue popped up in January and the officer also started calling my sponsor repeatedly and threatened him with a police case, he said. Indian Embassy First Secretary Nirmal Kumar Chawdhary refuted the allegations that the labour officer had roped in the cases and that he has threatened the sponsor. We had initiated the action in Mr. Jaganthans case and when the first case of one of his employees was registered on January 10, we had asked him for a mutual cooperation, said Mr. Chawdhary. Later, two more employees reported against him and since he did not cooperate, we had to issue new passports for them.

Club detects residents needs

Puja Tiwari
puja@dt.bh

total of 1,000 smoke detectors were yesterday presented to needy families residing in Manama. The Rotary Club of Manama and Capital Governor Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa had taken the initiative to significantly reduce casualties caused by accidental fires in the area. The distribution was done at an event organised at the Gulf Hotel yesterday. Rotary Club President Bashar Ahmadi, Incoming President Robert Timmers, Community Service Director Othman Janahi, and Shaikh Hisham attended the event along with members of the club and needy families. The smoke detectors were

given to people who owned houses that were old and not equipped with fire alarms, explained Mr. Ahmadi. The total cost of the detectors is around BD5,000, he said. We have always been assisting fire tragedy survivors with finances. So, we thought a better idea would be to give them smoke detectors to safeguard themselves from fire incidents altogether. He said the funds for the detectors were raised through

club activities such as football matches, a walkathon, luncheon sponsors and auctions. An informative video as well as a talk explaining electricity hazards was given by Safety Specialist at the Electricity and Water Authority Jabber Hassan. Mr. Hassan emphasised the importance of earthing, having wires connected to the earth to dispel high voltage charges in case of a fuse. The idea is to make houses safe in Manama because there have been a few incidents where people have lost their lives, said Shaikh Hisham. Smoke kills silently, so the detector will help in alerting in case of a fire. A presentation of the charity work done by the club in the year 2011- 2012 was made as well.