By BEGENA P PRADEEP

Thousands of expatriates who turned up at The Indian Club yesterday to register themselves with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) ended up causing chaos and damaging club property.

It was announced in yesterday’s newspapers that the LMRA enrolment centre at the Sanabis Club had been closed and shifted to The Indian Club in Gudaibiya for convenience from yesterday to Wednesday.

The workers reportedly slept on cardboard boxes outside The Indian Club to find places in the front of the queue when the doors opened at 7am.

Sources told the GDN that more than 3,000 people reached the club yesterday and began to turn aggressive once their patience wore thin from waiting for so long.

“More than 1,500 people spent the night on the street outside the club on cardboard boxes,” said club general secretary Ulhas Karnavar.

“When the gate opened at 7am, they just rushed in and our security staff could not control them.

“People started to panic as the club is not equipped to handle so many people at once.

Property

“Some fixtures and other club property like chairs and glasses were damaged in the chaos that followed.”

Following the incident, the club requested the LMRA not to include it as one of the authority’s enrolment centre.

“We were trying to help but it came as a blow to us. We never expected so many people to come on the first day itself.

“We have informed the LMRA officials that since the club has found out that it does not have the adequate infrastructure to run one of their centres, we will have to discontinue our services.”

LMRA chief executive Ali Radhi told the GDN that the enrolment centre would not operate at the Indian Club from today since the club was not equipped enough to handle a large crowd.

“This rush is normal and I understand that the people must have got aggressive out of desperation,” he said.

“They’ve been waiting for days in long queues in the hot sun, leaving work.”

However, following the incident, he revealed yesterday that the deadline for expatriates to register in the LMRA has been extended by another week.

People will now be able to register in a festival to be held at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre from June 4 to 21. The earlier deadline was June 15.

The LMRA’s enrolment centre was earlier shifted from the Sanabis Club to Indian Club because the new location is known to most expatriates and is easily accessible.

The Sanabis Club had also complained to the LMRA that they were inconvenienced because of the long queues of expatriates which spilled out onto the street across their premises.

Registration will continue at the other three centres – Saar Club, Hidd Industrial Area and Northern Industrial Area, Sitra from 7.30am to 3.30pm till May 27.