KATHMANDU: After the COVID-19 pandemic hit the global economy a large number of Nepali migrant workers remained jobless. As a result they started returning to the country.
Since the government had halted regular flight operations it arranged repatriation flights during the lockdown to bring back stranded workers. However, undocumented workers were deprived of this support and facility, said migration expert Saru Shrestha.
“There more than 100,000 undocumented migrant workers who want to return home, however, being undocumented they are not getting the facilities the government has offered to migrant workers,” she said. “Not only during the pandemic but even during regular times such undocumented workers are not treated like citizens of the country,” she lamented.
She further explained that many workers have to go abroad illegally for employment due to various personal reasons. However, the government has failed to address their issue. “Unemployment and lack of education are some of the major reasons for people going abroad illegally.
It is the government’s responsibility to create an environment for people to either earn a good life here in the country itself or go abroad safely to work,” Shrestha said.
Meanwhile, LP Sanwa Limbu, a federal parliament member, said that the government does not have proper details of such workers and that is the reason why the government is not able to provide services to them. He further claimed that the government has also failed to address the directions of the parliamentary committees.
“The International Relations and Labor Committee has already directed the government twice to address the issues of undocumented workers immediately, however, it has been ignoring our directive,” he said. “We have again directed the government to take action. Needful discussion is going on though,” he informed.