Workers stranded in Qatar rescued

KATHMANDU: SEPT. 11 – Four Nepali workers stranded in Qatar have been rescued at the initiative of the Nepali Embassy and the Non-Resident Nepali Association, Qatar.

Bikash Shahi of Swamikartik Khapar Rural municipality-3 of Bajura, Ashmita Lama of Kathmandu, Mohan Poudel of Bhojpur and Uday Kumar Yadav of Mahottari have been sent to Nepal by the Association after they lost their jobs in Qatar.

According to Santosh Chhetri, spokesperson of the Association, Shahi and Yadav arrived in Kathmandu on a Nepal Airlines flight at 9:00 am on Friday. Lama and Poudel had returned to Nepal on August 17. “Legal arrangements were carried out by the Embassy. The Association managed the air ticket and send them home,” Chhetri said in a telephone interview.

Shahi, who left for Qatar six months ago, said he had to leave work and return to Nepal due to health reasons. “I worked for the first two months, then fell ill,” he said. “After the company refused to send me, I came to Nepal with the help of the Embassy and the NRNA.” He says that by helping in the crisis, the NRNA has acquired a virtue that will not be forgotten. Shahi said that he went to his home district Bajura after landing in Kathmandu.

The NRNA has said that many stranded workers have been rescued and assisted since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Spokesperson Chhetri said that the rescue operation was being carried out in coordination with the Nepali embassy. A large number of Nepali workers have become jobless abroad during the epidemic.

The National Coordinating Council of the NRNA in Qatar has formed a rescue committee to help the Nepali workers facing trouble.