NEWS FROM THE UAE
Excerpts from UAE Dailies

Duped Indian has fatal stroke

DUBAI — March 16: An Indian national, who had arrived in Dubai last Wednesday, died of cardiac arrest at a labour camp in Sonapur where he was staying with a relative.

Madusoondanan Achari from Kerala had been duped by an unscrupulous recruiting agent. He had reportedly paid a hefty fee to the agent for a job in Dubai, but found he had been cheated and there was no job for him. Unable to cope with the stress, he suffered a stroke and died.

On hearing the news of his death, the 42-year-old man’s family in India, his widow and two daughters reportedly consumed poison in a bid to end their lives. They are all admitted in Trivandrum Medical College in Kerala in critical condition.  According to Haridasan, a relative of the deceased, Achari had arrived at the Dubai International Airport on March 7, but as promised by the agent, no visa was deposited at the airport. As a result, he had to wait at the airport for two days.

‘When the family contacted the agent back home, someone deposited the visa on Friday. However, nobody came to the airport to receive him or take him to the company he was supposedly hired for,’ the relative said.

Haridasan added that Achari was shattered after being left in the lurch by the agents. ‘He complained of chest pain on March 9, but before we could take him to a hospital, he passed away,’ he said. Speaking from Trivandrum, Unni, the brother of the deceased, said he was in constant touch with his brother’s friends for the repatriation of the body.

KHALEEJ TIMES

Youth found hanging in Ajman

DUBAI — March 16: The body of a young Indian national was found hanging in a room in a building in New Sanaiyah area in Ajman on Tuesday evening.

The 23-year-old man, identified as Shiju Raghavan, was on a visit visa to the UAE and looking for a job.

His friends said he had committed ‘suicide’ following his failure to get a job. He was reportedly desperate for a job as he wanted to provide a decent life to his family back in India, which includes his old parents and a younger sister.

‘The police was informed of the incident and they have shifted his body to the police morgue,’ said one of his friends.

Raghavan had arrived in Dubai on March 1 to scout for a job. ‘A distant relative who had arranged for his visit visa had to rush home in India due to some emergency after which Raghavan was staying with an acquaintance.

He attended a few interviews, including the last one on Saturday, but was unsuccessful,’ one of his friends told Khaleej Times.

KHALEEJ TIMES

Ban on Indian eggs to stay

ABU DHABI — March 16: The National Committee for Emergency Response to Bird Flu has submitted a comprehensive report dealing with lifting a ban on the import of Indian eggs to the Ministry of Environment and Water, Majed Al Mansouri, the committee’s chairman, has said.

‘A decision to lift a ban should be taken as per the UAE’s own criteria and requirements. Such a move should not be adopted simply because another country did remove the ban on Indian eggs,’ said Al Mansouri. 

‘The committee has examined  the situation and decided not to lift  the ban on import of Indian eggs as there has been no concrete evidence so far confirming that India is free of Bird Flu.’  

He said the Secretariat General of Municipalities should seek advice from the ministry. 

He added that Dr Mohammed Saeed  Al Kindi, Minister of Environment and Water,  was well aware of the importance of the issue and the need for coordination among all the authorities concerned with regard to lifting the ban.

KHALEEJ TIMES