Earlier this year shocked Nepalis learnt that on average 12 of their compatriots employed in Persian Gulf countries die every month. But the number can be higher than that?only our government is not keeping count. The Nepali-language daily, Nepal Samacharpatra on 18 September reported that 12 Nepali workers, had died last week, four in Qatar and eight in Saudi Arabia.
The customs department of Tribhuvan International Airport confirmed the arrival of four coffins earlier this week from the Gulf. But Madhavji Shrestha, chief of the West Asia and Africa Desk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Lalit Bahadur Thapa, director general of the Department of Labour, say they are unaware of the deaths and the arrival of the bodies. Shrestha said he was on leave for two weeks, while Thapa made the excuse that Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not coordinating with his department.
The government is not serious about these deaths, said Deepak Rijal, the Samacharpatra reporter who broke the story.
Official data shows that about 100,000 Nepalis are working in menial jobs in Gulf countries at any given time. But unofficial estimates put the number at four times that. Nepali employment agencies are known to trick workers into accepting informal labour status to free themselves from any accountability once the workers reach these countries.
A government study tour last year to Gulf countries led by former labour secretary Damaru Ballav Bhattarai found that Nepali workers are under tremendous physical and mental stress due to a number of factors, including mistreatment, the fear of losing family property mortgaged to pay for a placement, and an almost complete lack of communication with their families back home. On top of that they have to work under the sun in temperatures that soar to 46 degrees this time of year.
Qatar is currently identified as one of the safest Gulf countries for Nepalis to work in, and talks have been underway since 1998 between the two governments to formalise this relationship through a labour agreement.
