DHANGADHI, SEPTEMBER 18

COVID-19 fear is escalating as cases are increasing across Nepal and India.

However, braving the virus threat, people with their backpacks are seen lining up at Nepal-India border.

Until a few days ago, migrant workers could be seen returning to the home country from India via Kailali’s Trinagar-Gaurifanta and Kanchanpur’s Gaddachauki-Banbasa border point in droves. But, the scenario has been reversed.

The number of people leaving for India for work outnumbers the people entering the country.

With the imposition of the lockdown by India to curb the COVID spread, migrant workers had entered Nepal during the lockdown. India has been recording more than 90,000 cases a day. But, the number of people leaving for India continues to increase.

People from nine districts of Sudurpaschim Province have been leaving for India for jobs via Kailali’s Gaurifanta and Kanchanpur’s Gaddachauki border points.

Around 400 people are leaving for India on a daily basis these days. The number of returnees is around 150 a day. “The number of people leaving for India has been increasing for the last one month,” said a health desk In-charge Dinesh Thakulla, at Gaddachauki border point.

Kailali’s DAO information Officer Shivraj Joshi said they had allowed India-bound Nepali migrant workers to leave the country on the basis of their identity cards and job offer letters provided by their employers in India.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 19, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.