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WATER and electricity supply will be cut to labour accommodations in Muharraq that do not comply with Covid-19 regulations, it has been announced.
The Muharraq Municipal Council, which passed a proposal in this regard by council chairman Ghazi Al Murbati, said this was the only way to get labour camps to adhere to preventive guidelines aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.
Speaking at the regular council meeting held online yesterday, Mr Al Murbati said this was not just a health issue but a humanitarian one as well, due to the inhumane living conditions in some of these accommodations.
He said violations to the 2015 regulations had been ignored by the landlords who had not taken the matter seriously.
“Most of the Covid-19 cases were caused by overcrowding at the labour camps and a lack of adequate facilities,” he said.
“Many had become unsuitable for human habitation due to lack of sanitation and worn out infrastructure, while some had become a haven for violators of law and regulations.”
He said, according to the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry, 420 labour accommodations had been inspected in the governorate.
“The number of places that fulfilled the required requirements was only three, while seven landlords evacuated residents from their accommodations, which means only 10 landlords had corrected their situation in the past five years,” he added.
“Unfortunately, the ministry is still slow in dealing with such sensitive issues.
Mr Al Murbati said all the landlords had been notified of the need to improve the conditions in accordance with the 2015 law, adding that 100 landlords had reviewed their cases with the Muharraq Municipality, but the majority did not attend.
Meanwhile, the Capital Governorate has already started to cut electricity from labour camps that violate the law and has seen a 48 per cent reduction in the number of residents in overcrowded accommodation.
Corrected
Capital Governor Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa said electricity was cut from 41 buildings and was returned to 38 of them after they corrected their conditions.
He also said that 156 of owners or their representatives were summoned to sign a commitment to correct the conditions of their buildings to avoid taking the necessary legal measures against them.
“These measures have succeeded in reducing the density of workers in overcrowded buildings with a total of 1,250 workers, 48pc of the total workers living in the same area,” said Shaikh Hisham in a statement.
“The team continues to conduct field visits on a daily basis to correct the conditions of most of the buildings that violate the requirements, including cutting the electrical current to the building that violates it until its conditions are modified.
“Crowding is contributing to the spread of Covid-19 and therefore the owners of the houses are responsible for the spread of infection for violating the collective housing law.”
He was speaking after reviewing the inspection of the buildings that were monitored by the joint governorate team made up of the Capital Trustees Authority, the Health Ministry, the Electricity and Water Authority, and the Capital Governorate Police Directorate.
Such violations are punishable by imprisonment for a period of no less than three months, and by a fine that does not exceed BD10,000, or either of these two penalties for anyone who refuses to implement any measure to prevent the spread of the disease.
The GDN previously reported that 8,011 expatriate workers staying in cramped labour camps have been provided with new accommodation as part of efforts to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Authorities have also pledged a ‘zero tolerance’ approach against companies and landlords who ran overcrowded and unsafe labour accommodation.
ghazi@gdn.com.bh
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