A sketch taken from the cover page of Nepal Labour Migration Report 2020. Photo Courtesy: MOLESS

September 14: Nepali citizens stranded abroad after losing their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic have not been able to come back to Nepal due to the lack of sufficient repatriation flights.

Even though the government had announced that it will rescue the stranded Nepalis by availing money from the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund, it has been able to bring back only a handful of stranded citizens considering the total number of Nepalis in need of rescue. The lack of flights has created difficulties to conduct the repatriation operation for the government.

According to the Foreign Employment Board under the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security, so far only 15 people have been brought from Malaysia by utilizing the fund.

Rajan Shrestha, executive director of the Foreign Employment Board, informed that the government has not been able to bring the stranded workers from Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, and other countries due to the lack of flights.

"People willing to return back to Nepal on their expenses also aren’t able to return," Shrestha informed.

He urged the government to immediately make the flight operation convenient and rescue stranded Nepalis.

According to the Ministry of Labor, around 50,000 Nepalis are willing to come to Nepal even by paying exorbitant airfare themselves.