By MANDEEP SINGH

HUNDREDS of expatriate workers flocked to a Labour Market Regulatory Authority fingerprinting centre yesterday, some as early as 4am, only to be turned away by noon.

The rush at the centre in Sanabis, one of four set up by the authority across the country, came as a deadline for expatriates to register before July 1 draws near.

This was despite an appeal by the authority on Tuesday not to panic.

It said that they would be able to register in a 12-day festival to be held at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre from June 4 to 15.

“We do not know about the festival and we came at 5am today,” said one of the workers, who came with four colleagues after taking special leave without pay from his workplace in Muharraq.

“We are paid approximately BD3 a day, which we have lost and still haven’t registered.”

The worker, who didn’t want to be named, claimed when he and his colleagues tried to argue with security at the centre, they were pushed and roughed up.

“We have only come once, but there are some who have been coming for a few days,” he said.

A security guard managing the crowds denied anyone had been pushed or assaulted.

“We do not even touch the people, let alone push them,” he said.

“However, we have to try and maintain order and for that, there have been a few arguments with the workers.”

He said they were aware they would face action if they tried to assault or push anyone.

Another worker, who also wished to remain anonymous, said he had his fingerprints taken on his second visit after many arguments with some of the officials present.

“I am glad that there is a new deadline so many of the others will not be inconvenienced now,” he said.

He said that he would spread the word on the festival among his friends.

“It is not enough to put the announcement in one newspaper. We do not read newspapers. The announcements should be made in our camps and workplaces,” he said.

Bahraini businessman Quresh Khan Buneri, who was at the centre to register some of his employees, said he had left his men at around 7am and they had still not been attended to by noon.

“They are standing in the sun for hours together and cannot even break the queue or else they will lose their turn,” he said.

Mr Buneri was later seen distributing bottles of water to scores of people in the queue.

“I can’t see these poor people suffer. They cannot even go to the cold store a hundred metres away and this is the best I could do,” he said.

Mr Buneri said he is personally going to try and get the message of the festival across to as many people as he can.

“They should not suffer when they can wait. I am sure if there is less rush, those who come here will be dealt with much faster,” he said.

Al Areen Electrical Contracting manager George Jacob, who was also at the centre, said he has a small company with 15 people.

“All of them have come for the last two days to get registered and we have gotten no work done. How can this continue,” he said.

Mr Jacob said the applicants were waiting for hours and then returning without anything being done, “hungry and thirsty because there are only four counters to deal with thousands of people”.

“They should work out some system so that everyone comes with an appointment. It should not be difficult to manage that,” he said.

LMRA chief executive Ali Radhi had earlier said that the four fingerprinting centres at Saar, Sanabis, Hidd and Sitra were overcrowded since people had panicked to get registered before the deadline.

He said they should not crowd the centres, but wait for the festival so they could do it at ease then.

Mr Radhi said the festival would be open from 7am till late at night.

He said out of 485,000 expats to be enrolled, 236,000 have already registered.

From July 1, the enrolment will become mandatory for official transactions. It is also important for renewing work visas and for travel related purposes. People who still find any problem, may write to the LMRA or contact the call centre on 17506055.