A group of people, posing themselves as representatives of a government department in the south Indian state of Kerala, has been reportedly collecting money from Keralites in the name of a social security scheme. The other day one of the group members was detained by employees of Mowasalat, when he approached them at their accommodation in Abu Hamour, with the hope of “inducting” them into a scheme launched for non-resident Keralites (NRK). “The person was reportedly seen soliciting potential customers at our accommodation in the last three-four days by some of our colleagues,” said a supervisor at the company. A number of employees reportedly fell prey to his guiles and paid him QR60 each for joining the scheme, as advised by him. The person reportedly canvassed the customers with printed forms downloaded from a Kerala government website. The supervisor saw him only on the fourth day of his canvassing at the company accommodation. “On being interrogated, the person flashed his Qatar ID, which has expired more than three months ago,” said a Mowasalat employee. While canvassing the “scheme”, he gave the mobile numbers of at least three of his colleagues, who he said were similarly collecting money for the “security scheme” from among the Kerala community members. When pressed for the reasons for not renewing his visa, the person told the Mowasalat workers that he had been out of employment following the alleged closure of the company where he had worked. He also reportedly gave different versions about himself to different employees there. While he told some of them that he had been a Kerala government teacher on leave, working in a Qatar firm, he told others that he had been an employee of a particular Kerala government department itself. When employees told him about the consequences of collecting money from public in the country, he pleaded his “innocence” and the person was let off with a warning. “However, when one of my colleagues contacted him on his mobile the next day, to know if he was still going ahead with his canvassing, the person told him to meet him for joining the “scheme” the same evening at a location near the Markhiya roundabout. He also gave him at least three more numbers of his friends who we contacted later in the day. Each of them said the caller that he could take insurance from any of them,” said a Mowasalat employee. He said his further inquiries found that the persons had also visited some of the labour camps in the Industrial Area. “We do not know how many people fell into their trap,” he said. An ex-officio member of non-resident Keralites affairs (Norka) said no one in the Gulf region has been authorised to collect premiums for the social security that it had floated for Keralites in the region. http://gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=348386&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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