KATHMANDU: There will be a separate channel for migrant workers at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) soon. The Ministry of Labour and Transport Management (MoLTM) is mulling the concept to get details of overseas-bound Nepali migrant workers.

MoLTM is working on it as a priority programme for the current fiscal year, said Babu Ram Acharya, secretary at the ministry during the inauguration of Migration Resource Centre (MRC) today. "We want to build a data-base of migrant workers," he said. TIA is the only authorized airport in Nepal for foreign-bound labourers.

As per the MoLTM plan,

the channel will run with a well-equipped labour

desk which will record the status of labourers based on

gender, destination, job category, salary and benefits

etc. MRC will play the role of coordinator of the labour channel at TIA.

MRC, which formally opened today, is designed to inform people about foreign employment and provide counseling to needy people. "It will provide informed choices to people wanting to go for overseas jobs," said Sthaneshwor Devekota, executive director of Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB), which is operating the centre.

Moreover, the centre will add value to migrant workers by informing them about foreign job markets. "After visiting the centre, they can make better decisions," assured Sarat Dash, chief of the mission of International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The international organization is facilitating the centre in training human resources and also providing logistics.

Speaking during the inauguration programme, Minister for Labour and Transport Management Mohammed Aftab Alam showed grave concern over growing number of cases of abuse and casualties in destination countries. "MRC should focus on a strategy to reduce abuse and casualties in destination countries," he said.

According to an estimate, three Nepali migrant workers die every two days while working and three Nepali women workers suffer from abuse daily.