Abu Dhabi, April 29: The Indian Embassy will soon start a resource centre in Dubai to provide a range of services for the welfare of the expatriate workers, including a 24-hour helpline.
The Indian Workers’ Resource Centre (IWRC) would provide services like the facility for registering and monitoring grievance petitions and providing legal, financial and medical counselling, M. K. Lokesh, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, told Khaleej Times.
He said the centre would be an outsourced facility.
In a couple of days, the embassy would invite ‘expression of interest’ from the organisations which would be able to establish and manage the centre.
The Indian Embassy in the UAE would be the second Indian mission in the GCC countries, after Kuwait, to have such a centre, Lokesh said.
The IWRC will process applications for attestation of employment documents of Indian workers. It will also conduct awareness classes and counselling sessions for the community.
The Indian government would meet the expenditure for running the centre. The organisation which would establish and manage the IWRC would be selected based on its experience and competence.
Asked how long would it take for the actual launch of the centre, the ambassador said it would be difficult to set a stipulated time-frame. “But it would all depend on how many organisations respond to the invitation to send in expression of interest.
“Those who are sending applications expressing interest to run the centre will have to make a presentation on their proposals. Those found eligible will be shortlisted and issued the request for submitting detailed proposals,” Lokesh said.
There are about 1.7 million Indian expatriates working in the UAE, nearly 65 per cent of them belong to the blue-collar category.
–Agencies