Rescue in Kuwait

 

The government has started the rescue mission to bring home an estimated 300 citizens who are said to be stranded in Kuwait. 

 

On the first phase, the government has decided to bring home 20 people languishing in the Gulf state without jobs and money for months. Most of these people were employed by one of Kuwait’s leading construction company, Kharafi National. 

 

A joint meeting of officials from the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) and the Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB) on Wednesday had instructed the concerned agencies to expedite the rescue. Following the directive, the Nepali embassy in Kuwait is preparing to send home 20 citizens.  

 

Suresh Kunwar, who is among the 20 candidates waiting to catch a flight back to Nepal, said those people who have health conditions, those with have the least penalty fine for overstaying their visas and those who still have valid stay permit will be sent home in the first phase. 

 

The embassy is yet to fix the date of their departure. Still, the stranded Nepalis hope to reunite with their loved ones soon. Many Nepalis with expired visas have been living in immigrant camps for months now. Earlier this week, their were reports about Sulaibiya Camp not being able to provide food to the Nepali migrants for two days. 

 

A group of Nepali migrant workers and the embassy staff had later visited the camp with food, water and other supplies. The camp currently has 74 Nepali citizens. Kunwar said after their employing company, which was supposed to provide them food, stopped the supply, representatives of Nepali clubs and the embassy had come to their rescue.

 

Kunwar added that he was returning home with nearly Rs 200,000 of his salary amount unpaid by his company. ane Sunar, another worker waiting for his turn to return home, said he had not received four months’ worth of  salary. He expects to return home in the second phase.