Home work on to bring Nepalis stranded abroad : Government

30 April Kathmandu : The government is doing home work to bring home the Nepalis stranded in various labour destination countries due to the COVID-19. Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Rameshwar Raya Yadav, said this addressing to the Nepalis in foreign countries on Wednesday. He said the government was seriously studying the option of bringing the stranded Nepalis home.

Stating that a big amount of resources would be required to bring back a large number of Nepalis home at once, he said priority would be given to bring home the Nepalis stranded due to various reasons, the sick and the infirm.

“Over around two million Nepali migrant workers are in the Gulf countries, in Malaysia and other countries. It requires a big amount of resources even to bring a small percentage of this population to Nepal and to make arrangements for keeping them in quarantines as well as other facilities for them. We should also remain aware to the fact whether or not our capacity will be adequate to handle the situation,” Minister Raya said.

Minister Yadav urged the Nepalis in various labour destination countries to stay safe wherever they are for the time-being, taking full care of their health in the current adverse situation. He also urged the Nepalis, facing problem in managing food and accommodation in foreign countries due to the loss of livelihood and running out of money owing to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, to contact the Nepali diplomatic missions located in the respective countries.

The Minister appealed to the individuals and associations and organisations of Nepalis abroad to provide humanitarian assistance to fellow Nepalis stranded or in distress. Minister Yadav also shared on the occasion that the government has made diplomatic initiatives for the proper care and treatment to the Nepali citizens who are infected by coronavirus in the labour destination countries.

He said several destination countries have announced special relief programmes for the migrant workers affected by COVID-19 and urged the Nepali migrant workers in these countries to be benefited from such programmes by acquiring information about the same through the Nepali embassy.