HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee (PNCC), today, opened a shelter house for migrant workers. The shelter will provide boarding facility to victims along with psychological counseling and legal aids, said president of the committee Mahendra Pandey.

The shelter is first of its kind in the country and has mainly targeted male victims. “This is the first shelter house for male migrant workers in the country,” he said, adding that women migrant workers had such facility since five years back. PNCC will manage the shelter house and will provide best possible service to victims, he added. According to PNCC, the shelter house can provide boarding service to 15 migrant workers at a time. “They will get proper care and adequate psycho-social counseling and other services too,” he said. PNCC — a non-governmental organisation — deals with more than 50 victim cases in a month.

Number of people affected from fraud and other problems have been growing in recent past, so the shelter can be an asset to fight for their rights, said coordinator and rescue officer at the committee Parbata Adhikari. “Now we have a place to keep the victims and proceed further for legal actions,” she said, adding that the organisation carries rescue operation of around 20 people every month.

Pourakhi — a non governmental organisation established by former women migrant workers — have been providing shelter house service to women migrant workers since 2008. The organisation has been providing service to around 50 women migrant workers in a month.

Safer Migration Project (SaMi) of Helvatas-Nepal and Non-Resident Nepalis Association of Qatar chapter have also supported the shelter house. SaMi has been also been providing support to Pourakhi.

Published on: 19 July 2013 | The Himalayan Times