Kathmandu, Sept. 13
Industry,
Commerce, Labour and Consumer Welfare Committee of the Federal Parliament has
directed the government to rescue all Nepalis stranded abroad within a month
from now.
Following a
discussion with Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Rameshwar
Ray Yadav and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Sunday,
the House panel issued the direction to the ministries to initiate the rescue work
immediately to bring back all the stranded Nepali nationals from various
countries within a month.
According to the
estimates of the Non-Resident Nepali Association and Nepali missions abroad,
about 150,000 Nepalis want to return home immediately and many of them have
lost their job due to the pandemic and some of them are stranded helpless.
About 62,494
Nepalis have been brought into the country from various countries around the
world, primarily from the Gulf and Malaysia till Sunday evening, as per the
data of the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC).
The MoFA said
that more than 68,000 Nepalis have lost their job and income and are waiting
for immediate rescue.
"Most
citizens – almost 47,000 - to be rescued were in the United Arab Emirates while
only about 17,000 have been rescued so far," the MoFA said.
Likewise, 13,215
from Saudi Arabia, 11,332 from Qatar and 7,183 from Malaysia need to be rescued
immediately.
Given the number
of Nepali nationals who need to be rescued, the government effort for the same
is inadequate as it has been bringing as much as 800 people a day. It means it
would take more than 80 days to bring those 68,000 Nepalis.
The Ministry of
Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation was in the mood to increase the number to
at least 2,000 a day, however, it couldn't be materialised. The committee has
also directed the tourism ministry for the timely coordination with the
airlines companies to manage the rescue flights.
Committee
chairperson Bimal Prasad Shriwastav drew the attention of the government to the
insufficient efforts in terms of rescuing the Nepalis stranded in the foreign
land.
He said that the
government must forge effective collaborations with the government and
non-government institutions to rescue, manage and quarantine the Nepali people.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 14 September 2020.
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