Staff Reporter GRIPPED by the fear of the unknown after rumours spread of a “ghost” doing the rounds of their labour camp, hundreds of Nepalese workers of a leading construction company prevented some 4,000 of their campmates from going to work yesterday.
They demanded to be shifted immediately from the “haunted” accommodation to another place or be sent home at the earliest as they said they felt unsafe at the camp which reportedly houses more than 5,000 workers, most of them Asians.
According to sources, the workers became agitated early yesterday morning after some of their colleagues told them of an attack by “black cats” the previous night. Some other stories like the sightings of an apparition, clad in a black chador, also have been making the rounds at the camp for some time now.
After the workers closed the camp’s gate, thus preventing the buses parked inside from leaving the compound, company officials tried to pacify them but to no avail, a source said.
The management then informed the police as well as the Nepalese embassy who tried to convince the workers that there was nothing wrong and there was no need to get panicky, but the workers stayed put and reiterated their demand of either moving them immediately to another camp or sending them home at the earliest, sources said.
Workers reportedly complained that they felt unsafe in the camp owing to a number of “unpleasant happenings”, including a few deaths in recent months.
Some of the inmates at the camp had died presumably of heart attacks and other natural causes in the last several months, it is learnt. An embassy official said that since the beginning of this year, six or seven Nepalese workers had died at the camp. The latest death occurred a few days ago, he said. It is estimated that the camp houses about 1,300 Nepalis.
An embassy spokesman said that the workers insisted that they be sent home after a company official opposed their suggestion to shift the camp from the present location.
A company official told Gulf Times that the suggestion to shift the camp, and that too on such a “flimsy ground” was “highly impractical”. He also acknowledged that the workers refused to go to work in the morning, claiming to be feeling uncomfortable at the camp.
The mission official said the company had agreed in principle to repatriate in batches those workers who are determined to leave Qatar. He said the company had sought time to settle their arrears before being sent home. “It might take some time but the company has given an assurance to repatriate the workers,” he said.
When asked as to how many workers had sought repatriation, the official however, did not disclose the exact numbers. He said more than 1,300 Nepalese workers lived in the camp.
“A large number of workers, who did not report for duty yesterday, are expected to resume work today,” he said.
