Bahrain : India’s ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain, His Excellency Mr. Piyush Srivastava, visited the NSH labour camp on the BAPCO premises last Friday. Mr. Srivastava was accompanied by Mr. Ahmed Al Haiki, Assistant Under‐Secretary, Bahrain’s Ministry of Labour and Social Development and delegates from the Indian Community Relief Fund (ICRF), an autonomous body under the patronage of H. E. The Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Bahrain.
During his nearly three-hour visit, the Indian Ambassador, along with other dignitaries, was seen to be very delighted to see the accommodation and facilities provided by NSH, which are structured to benefit the residents’ welfare, well‐being, safety, and health care. Mr. Srivastava also appreciated ready and open channels of communication that the camp management has created to facilitate interaction with the residents of the camp as well as employees.
A tour of the camp was organized, at the request of the visitors, by the NSH Management. The facility is spread over a vast area of 311,153 Square Meters, accommodating over 8,500 workers, and is dedicated for the construction of the new BAPCO Refinery, under the BAPCO Modernization Program (BMP) Project.
During the tour, the Ambassador interacted with the workers and visited their rooms.
The Ambassador and other delegates received first‐hand feedback from workers about their well‐being and satisfaction with the premises. Apart from visiting the worker’s rooms, the delegation also inspected other areas such as the camp office, a 24-hour clinic, met with the dedicated camp support crew and took a look at the security coverage, in‐house kitchen & dining facilities, prayer halls, laundry, recreational, sporting and other related facilities.
Enthused by the sight of seeing some of the camp’s residents playing cricket, the Indian Ambassador decided to join them, creating a joyful sense of excitement among the workers.
The Indian Ambassador visited the Kitchen & Dining facility and later distributed sweets to the workers.
At the conclusion of his visit, H.E Mr. Srivastava said: “I have been told that this camp is accommodates the largest Indian workforce community in Bahrain, and I must say that this is one of the best camp I have visited so far in terms of the facilities, the accommodation, sporting facilities, medical facilities and the way the workers are looked after by the management. During my interaction with the workers, I saw workers were satisfied with the facilities. Thank you for organizing this visit. “
H.E Mr. Ahmed Jaafar Alhaiki, the Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs, said: “A company like NSH is one of the finest companies in Bahrain and is the strategic partner of the Ministry of Labour when it comes to employing Bahraini employees.”
“It was an amazing visit,” the ICRF team members said. “Over the last 20 years, we have been visiting various camps across Bahrain and this is the best camp we have ever seen. It seems there is no need for ICRF here and there is no further need for improvement. Thanking you all.”
The NSH labour camp hosts a variety of migrant workers, primarily from across the Asian continent and beyond, with a large majority from India. The Group has over 40 years of experience in executing executing mega projects in the oil and gas & petrochemical industries for some of the largest companies in the world like Saudi Aramco, Bapco, Alba, SABIC, Qatar Gas, Ras Gas, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Total and Dolphin Energy – to name just a few. The standard operating procedures implemented are in line with International standards, as accepted by some of the most demanding companies in the world, and the company always follows the highest standards when it comes to their workers’ welfare and living conditions.
At the end, the Ambassador and other delegates lavished generous praise on the Ministry of Labour and Social Development, the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), BAPCO, TTSJV and NSH for their splendid efforts in maintaining a wonderful facility and ensuring the welfare of their workers.