Kathmandu, Saroj Thapa of Siranchok village municipality of Gorkha has been stranded in Malaysia for four months. After the government started the 'rescue flight' on June 7, he had high hopes that he would be able to return to Nepal.
However, he was unable to book a ticket as the fare on the chartered flight became too high. The Nepali embassy in Malaysia has not given priority to his name. However, he has been living in Malaysia for 4 months with the help of others as he has no money at hand.
Kalpana KC Bhujel has been unemployed in UAE for 4 months after her visa expired. On his return, he did not have the money to buy a ticket as per the fare fixed by the government.
She has gone abroad to repay the loan by taking a loan. Her family cannot send money from Nepal by taking a loan. So he is stranded in the UAE.
When she heard that those whose visas had expired would now be fined, she appealed to the embassy and other agencies. However, she has been held hostage in the UAE due to lack of money to buy tickets.
The story of Hari Kumar Chaudhary in UAE is similar. If he had been able to buy a ticket, he would have arrived in Nepal a month ago. However, he is stranded abroad as he does not have money to buy tickets.
The company has also not cooperated. Thanks to the support of his friends, he has been able to arrange for breakfast in the morning and evening. Friends are also in trouble to get loans abroad. The financial condition of the house is deplorable.
He paid Rs. 250,000 to Oso Manpower six months ago but failed the road test. The company has asked him to return home after the lockdown. Similarly, Chaudhary is worried about how long he will have to stay abroad without getting a ticket.
Despite Chaudhary's repeated requests to the manpower to return him, the third condition is that there should be a written agreement with the family. Chaudhary is afraid that if the family is stamped correctly in the documents, he will not be able to return and ask for compensation?
Nawaraj Subedi of Nawapalparasi is also stranded in Dubai. His company has not given him a job, nor a salary. He does not want to come to Nepal immediately. While living in Dubai, he is suffering from mental stress.
There is a chartered flight from UAE, but Subedi's goji is also empty. He did not ask for help from the company and friends to buy the ticket. However, no one is in a position to help.
Nawaraj, Hari Kumar, Saroj and Kalpana are the only representatives in various labor destination countries including Malaysia and the Gulf who have not been able to return home. Thousands of Nepali workers like them are facing similar problems.
They are dying to believe that the government will work when they are suffering. Homeless Nepalis have accused the government of making rescue a 'business'.
One month after the start of the flight, the government has not shown any interest in resolving the problem of those who cannot pay the fare of chartered flights abroad and cannot afford the cost of travel and quarantine.
Instead, ignoring such problems, the government has started the second phase of 'rescue' of Nepalis stranded abroad from Thursday. Chartered flights have resumed after giving two days rest to the manpower working at the airport and holding center.
But even in the second phase of the 'rescue flight', only those who can buy tickets can return. After returning 26,000 Nepalis in the first phase, the government was expected to pay for the tickets of those who were unable to return.
Currently, the Ministry of Labor estimates that about 25 percent of the 50,000 workers who want to return to Nepal from abroad are in need of assistance. Many workers have to take loans to return. Many are now helpless and waiting to be rescued because of economic problems abroad.
Meanwhile, the government has fixed a chartered flight schedule from Thursday to July 25. Accordingly, the embassies are issuing information by fixing high fares in the old style.
Workers who are unable to afford it have suffered more. Madhu Vilas Pandit, an expert on foreign employment, says that the government's irresponsible style has become clear as the government has not shown any interest in rescuing the people who have been stranded abroad for a long time.
Stating that many Nepalis will be able to return home only if the government follows the orders of the apex court, he said that there should be no more injustice on the workers who have gone abroad by depositing money in the welfare fund.
"You have been charged for using the fund when you have a problem. When will the fund come in handy even in such a situation?" He said.
Directive stuck in the Council of Ministers
It is not that the government has not made plans to rescue or assist the stranded work for free. However, the directive on assisting in the rescue has reached the Council of Ministers and is stuck.
The guideline on rescue and repatriation of Nepalis stranded abroad is being used to collect fares by arranging expensive chartered flights again.
The Supreme Court has ordered the government to rescue the Nepali workers in trouble by using the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund.
For its implementation, the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security had prepared a draft directive on rescue and sent it to the Council of Ministers.
It is mentioned in the draft of the directive that the government will also bear the other expenses including the ticket of the workers who fall within the criteria specified. It has been proposed that only those who have taken labor permit from the government will get the facilities prescribed by the directive.
Sick, pregnant, disabled, jobless, tick from the company
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