Labourers' town awaits go-ahead
By BASMA MOHAMMED
MANAMA
THE fate of a Cabinet-approved BD13 million township for labourers has been awaiting a ministry green light for over two years, according to developers. Work on Al Enma’a House’s Labour Township project in Hidd was scheduled to begin in October 2006 and completed within 20 months.
Still offering a helping hand
By GEOFFREY BEW
A SOCIAL worker who dedicated 30 years of her life in Bahrain to help people in distress is planning to carry on the same work as she returns home to her native India next week. Salma Bala and her husband Anand, who moved to the island in 1979, are flying home to Hyderabad to spend more time with their families.
By ANIQA HAIDER
MANAMA
BAHRAIN human rights activists yesterday expressed concern over the Cabinet’s decision to postpone a ban on transporting workers in open trucks for four months. The ban, which was implemented last Thursday, was yesterday postponed to May 1.
Recently my company renewed my work permit online – with Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA). From the time they took my passport, I found that the work permit renewal was done in just one day.
And the very next day, on the expat portal section of LMRA website – I could see the details of my visa with the renewed date.
By Soman Baby
MORE than 5,000 companies could soon be fined for refusing to pay fees to the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA).
Fines will be introduced from today for companies that continue to ignore the new fees.
By SOMAN BABY
EXPATRIATES with expired visas will have no more chances to renew them after Wednesday, a Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) official declared yesterday.
Since the LMRA took over the responsibility of issuing work visas in July, people whose visas expired in the last 12 months were given a chance to renew them, said LMRA e-services and acting public relations manager Waheed Al Balushi.
By SOMAN BABY
MANAMA: Employment in Bahrain shot up by 10.5 per cent during the third quarter of this year, it was revealed yesterday.
Most of the jobs went to expatriates, with Bahraini employment up by 3.5pc, compared to a 4.1pc growth in the previous quarter, said the report published in the Bahraini Labour Market newsletter.
By BASMA MOHAMMED
EXPATRIATES working at mosques find themselves trapped in Bahrain because no one is paying for their visas, it has emerged.
They tend to stay in the country after their visas are expired because they fear losing their jobs if they return to their countries for new ones to be issued.
By MOHAMMED AL A’ALI
LABOUR Minister Dr Majeed Al Alawi yesterday assured Bahrain’s workforce that all efforts are being exerted to ensure the availability of jobs despite the global financial crisis.
“The unemployment ghost will continue haunting us, as it does other countries due to the financial crisis the world is going through,” he said.
A CLEARING agent who forged a previous client’s signature to illegally acquire a visa was jailed for three years yesterday.
The High Criminal Court convicted the 45-year-old Bahraini man of fraud and forgery.