By Fazeena Saleem
Dipendra Kawari did not know what was in store for him when he took up a watchman’s job in Qatar in 2006. For the past six years, the 45-year-old worker from Nepal has lived in small concrete block rooms close to construction sites in Doha.
“I live in this type of rooms wherever my company is constructing a building. Earlier, I was in Abu Hamour and other areas,” said Dipendra, who is now living in the Hilal area.
The room he lives in has no electricity or water supply, not even proper sanitation facilities. He depends on the nearest mosque for drinking water and to charge his mobile phone. The phone provides him some light inside the room at night.
During summers, Dipendra rigs up a makeshift hut out of wood and cloth next to this room as it is too hot to sleep inside the concrete structure. He earns QR700 a month and sends the major portion of his salary home, with plans to give his four daughters in marriage.
“I have gone home only once during these six years, and then also the company deducted my salary. I have commitments to my family, so I continue to work here,” said Dipendra, who is illiterate and could not read his job contract.
The Peninsula visited some of the places where watchmen at construction sites live, and found that their condition was no different from that of Dipendra.
Most small construction companies here provide their watchmen accommodation with poor living conditions. Some companies let their watchmen stay inside small shelters made to keep equipment. Others are allowed to stay in a small portion of the building once construction starts. A sleeping mattress, a bag of clothes and a few pots and pans make up all the possessions of these workers.
“I’m working for this company for five years. Accommodation is moved to wherever a building is being constructed. We are not given any permanent place to stay,” said Bikash, a watchman at a construction site in the Matar Qadeem area.
Without basic amenities, their day-to-day life is a challenge. They can’t afford to eat out on their meagre income, and cooking inside their rooms is also difficult.
“There is power supply when work is going on, then it stops as it is a temporary connection. We can use the water brought to construct the building, but for drinking water we go to the nearest mosque,” Bikash said.
“We have to cook in daylight, that too inside this room. We cook, eat and sleep here,” he said.
Life for these watchmen is tougher than that of other construction sector workers, who work for about eight hours and then go back to their accommodation.
“Our whole life here is confined to these shelters. We work and live here. Friday is supposed to be a holiday, but it makes no big difference as we have to look after the equipment and the building all the time,” said Bikash.
“If something is lost, we will be questioned and blamed first, so we are here most of the time. Some weekends, we go to a friend’s accommodation during the day and return quickly,” he added.
Most of the watchmen at construction sites in Doha are from Nepal or Bangladesh. They are paid less than QR1,000 a month, and many work for several years in Qatar, often without going home on vacation.
“We have hardly anything left after sending money home and buying food. So it’s better to remain here than go on a vacation,” said Mahmud, another construction site watchman in the Matar Qadeem area.
According to a construction industry professional, poor living conditions are common among these watchmen, especially those working for small companies. The big companies hire personnel from security firms to guard their construction sites.
“Some lucky ones get a job with the same company which owns the building. They get their visa changed and are also paid more. But this happens only in a few cases. The others work in the same routine and most of them don’t go on vacation,” he said.
(Names have been changed as the workers requested anonymity.)The Peninsula
