Seven Days News

Dubai, Jun 22: The Indian Consulate has blacklisted 27 Dubai-based companies after complaints about exploitation of workers. “The companies are listed in a ‘prior-approval’ category, which means that any recruitment to these companies will require an approval from the consulate in Dubai,” BS Mubarak, the Labour Consul told this newspaper yesterday, refusing to name any of the companies.

Companies named in the list may have defaulted on salary payments, offered substandard facilities to employees, failed to pay gratuity or treated workers badly. The list has already been sent to the immigration department in New Delhi, said consulate officials.  The list was compiled from complaints registered at the consulate by workers, which are then investigated by the consulate.

“The list has 27 companies so far but I am trying to include more names in it,” said Mubarak. Mubarak said that the Indian consulate receives an average of ten labour complaints each day from individual workers, while group complaints are around 12 per month.

“The idea is to scrutinise any new recruitments made by the company and ensure that the workers are not exploited,” said a consulate official. Indians applying for work in the unskilled sector are required to go through a ‘protector of immigrants’ department in India before their exit is approved. The list of companies will be provided to this department so that the government can ensure that uneducated workers are not cheated in their contract.