It is a pity that the authorities seem unaware of any Nepali worker being forced to leave
The woes of the migrant workers never seem to cease, and most of them deal with complaints about contract issues. According to the Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee (PNCC), a leading Nepali organisation promoting the rights and welfare of migrant workers, it received some 13,484 complaints related to contracts from the beginning of 2014 to October 2022. Migrant workers are left in the lurch when the companies they work for don't honour the contracts. As a result, workers have been forced to return home midway before the expiry of their contracts or forced to work without full pay. In the midst of the World Cup being held in Qatar, international media are focused on the exploitation of migrant workers, including those from Nepal, during the construction of stadiums and other logistics for the games. There are reports of Nepali workers being sent home in droves by construction firms before their contracts ended. Others had not received their full salaries, overtime pay or end-of-service benefits.
In the absence of job opportunities in the country, hundreds of thousands of youths head overseas, mostly to Malaysia, the Gulf countries and Korea, to work. Since they must go through the manpower companies, there is a hefty price to pay before one can land a job. So it's a big setback when the contracts – usually for at least two years – are terminated abruptly by the hiring companies. Worse still, the salaries, facilities and work-ing conditions tend to be very different from the ones promised by the manpower companies and their agents. Unable to cope with the harsh working conditions and the extreme heat, three Nepali migrant workers are said to die every day, most of them in the Gulf countries. The construc-tion spree in Qatar has especially taken a heavy toll of Nepali workers' lives with as many as 2,000 said to have died since that country was announced host of World Cup 2022. Yet, Qatar has packed home the largest number of Nepali migrant workers in the first quarter of this fiscal year – a total of 54,656, according to the Department of Foreign Employment.
Nepal's economy would have long collapsed were it not for the remittances sent home by the migrant workers. Nepal's imports are 12 times the size of its exports, and remittances help pay for all our imports.
Thus, the government has the moral obligation to look into the plight and complaints of the migrant workers and deal with the Qatari authorities immediately.
It is a pity that the Nepali authorities seem unaware of any Nepali being forced to leave their work destination. Inaction on the part of the government and absence of policies to ensure the rights of the workers will only encourage companies to do as they please. It remains to be seen if the manpower companies that sent the migrant workers will pay compensation for the breach of contract. However, manpower companies are known to fund the political parties in their election campaigns, and, in the November 20 elections, the proprietors of such companies themselves had stood up for election to the House of Representatives. Against such a backdrop, only an accountable government will listen to the woes of the migrant workers and take action.
Postal Highway
The Postal Road, which stretches from east to west in the Tarai region, has remained neglected because of the utter disregard of the concerned authorities and contractors. Locals of Sarlahi district have now blocked vehicular movement demanding immediate construction of the highway. Forty-two kilometres of the total length of the highway lies in Sarlahi district, which has not been black-topped even though its contract was awarded six years ago. As a result, the road becomes dusty during the dry season while it becomes muddy during the rainy season, making it difficult to negotiate through it. Three contractors were awarded to black-top the stretch of the highway, but they have failed to complete the task within the contract period of five years.
Officials at the Postal Road Project, Janakpur admitted that the work was slow mainly due to technical and other problems. Till date, only 60 per cent of the work has been partially completed. The Postal Highway plays a vital role in boosting economic activities in the southern part of the Tarai region. It has been decades since the construction work of the highway got started. The federal government should take strong legal action against those who have delayed in completing the work in time.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 16, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
