Coming from a very humble background with a bag of life’s vagaries, US$10,000
could certainly change Niranjan Manikaras’s life; help him give up a janitor’s life and may
be start a small business. He tells Umer Nangiana what he chose to do and why
He comes from a very humble background and his small family is partially dependent on his income. US$10,000 could certainly change Niranjan Manikaras’s life.
This much money could solve a million problems for his family back in Sri Lanka besides giving him an opportunity to give up the janitor’s work and may be start a small business.
Yet it did not tempt Manikaras into wrongdoing. He is a sub-contractor for janitorial services from Al-Sayed Cleaning & Maintenance (SCM) working with FMM (Facility Management & Maintenance), the subsidiary of Spanish company Ferrovial Services International, handling the maintenance works for Qatar Airways at New Doha International Airport.
Manikaras was doing his usual cleaning duties at Concourse B, beside the Duty Free shop near Boarding Gate 4 at Hamad International Airport on November 24 when he found a bundle of $100 denominations — making up $10,000 in all.
Nobody was watching him and he knew the value of money in hand. But it did not shake his integrity. The money was brought to the Captain’s Office where it was itemised and kept under custody for safekeeping.
“I knew it was a lot of money — US dollars, which converted into my home currency, make up for a lot of money. But I thought it did not belong to me so I must hand it over to the security,” Manikaras told Community recently in a chat following New Year celebrations held for its employees by FMM. He was rewarded for his honesty by FMM and his parent company SCM.
According to Manikaras, he found the envelope while he was performing his duties in his assigned area. He opened the envelope before placing it in the rubbish bin. He noted that inside the envelope was a wad of cash.
He was confronted with a dilemma: this money could solve a lot of problems for him and his family back home. Should he keep it? In the end, however, his conscience and the training by his company (SCM) prevented him from making a run.
He says he strongly felt he should return the money to whosoever it belonged — so he returned the envelope to the relevant department.
He says it was the first time in his life that he had come across this much money. “I had never seen this huge amount before,” the janitor said. He was content to receive the award and a certificate for his honesty.
“I want to be an honest man rather than being a rich one through unfair means. I want to bring a good name to my country and the company that I am working for. I want to be a good man,” said the young man.
He has one sister and two brothers living with his parents back in Sri Lanka. He has been in Qatar for one-and-a-half years. When he told his family about it, they all appreciated him. “My family knows it and they were the first ones to appreciate it. They said you have made us all proud,” recalled Manikaras.
At its New Year party for employees, FMM organised a special award ceremony for Manikaras. He received a cash prize and a certificate before an audience which applauded him for his honesty.
“We value such moral character shown by people working for us.
It is hugely important to us and we are proud of Manikaras and what he has done,” Maria del Cacho, the HR Director at FMM, told Community.
FMM is a joint venture between Qatar Airways and the Ferrovial Services. Under this contract, Ferrovial Services advises on the upgrading of policies and procedures linked to road operation and maintenance, customer service and financial management, among other functions.
In 2013, they were awarded to provide facility management services at Hamad International Airport (HIA).They work in Cleaning and Maintenance areas. It is done in three parts: cleaning and maintenance of airport; the new building; and roads and tunnels.
They have 3,500 employees from more than one-and-a-half dozen nationalities in the company. FMM has reserved a whole compound, Ezdan Village 38, for its employees in Wakrah besides settling many of them in other compounds.
The New Year night gala was organised to bring the employees together and provide them recreational means. The employees were invited with their families and took part in different cultural programmes. They sang, danced to the tunes of cultural songs and had dinner.
“At FMM, we believe in the value of the human capital. We try to provide the employees with maximum training and recreational programmes. We are aware that we have different nationalities and we try to connect them,” says the HR Manager.
“We are continuously working towards the growth of our employees and improving values. We gave three awards: the first category was honesty which is very important for us; then, we had the Employee of The Month in gold, silver and bronze categories; we also awarded employees for the best maintained villas. Finally, we also had an award for the best performance of the night,” she added.
“The company boasts a multicultural environment with global work experience but there’s nothing quite like working here,” says Maria.
“Most of the management is Spanish but we are very happy to have cultural diversity here and remain proud of our employees. We are happy that we have been able to bring so many people from countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines and others together,” the HR director told Community.
Currently, they have a contract with Qatar Airways but boast expertise in multiple areas and departments and are looking for opportunities in other sectors as well here in Qatar and the Middle East in general.
“We think we can get more business in the Middle East. In one year, we have brought a lot of employees and they are more engaged than they were a year before,” realled Maria.
Qatar, she said, is inviting a lot of business in the lead up to the 2022 World Cup and is creating a lot of job and business opportunities and developing at a very good pace. For FMM, the goodwill of the employees is the top priority, she said.
“We try to take the best care of our employees. The employees living here have access to all facilities; they get swimming pools and kids’ recreational areas and we provide them with clean drinking water. We also arrange for their training and cultural programmes. We realise that we are nobody without our employees,” concluded Maria.
