22 months after death, body back from Saudi

KATHMANDU: It has been a long wait for the kin of late Ramesh Giri — who went to Saudi Arab in search of greener pastures some five years ago but was killed there — to get his body back.

“After 22 months of his death in Saudi Arabia his body was sent to Nepal for last rites today,” said Giri’s cousin Dambar Giri, who had been trying to get the body deported to Nepal since Ramesh’s death. The body will be taken to Ramesh’s home in Morang for the last rites, he added.

Ramesh (31), a resident of Belbari in Morang district, had been to Saudi in July 2005. He died in a motorbike accident on August 20, 2008. “His mother died with grief for not being able to offer last rites,” Giri’s cousin said. “No one helped us bring the body back. Everyone, including the company he was working for and the manpower company that sent him, passed the buck on others.”

Finally, the Employment Promotion Board gave Rs 581,000 to the family to bring the body back. Giri is survived by his parents, wife and three daughters. His wife Meena has been grappling with financial crisis, as she doesn’t have money to meet the expenses of her daughters’ education. Ramesh had taken a loan from his neighbour to pay for his travel expenses to Saudi Arabia.

Ramesh’s body had been lying at Dammam’s Al-Sathi Hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Nepali Embassy in Saudi Arabia too was unable to send the body to Nepal due to stringent legal process. The embassy said Ramesh had illegally switched jobs during his stay in Saudi Arabia. He got killed while he was working sans valid work permit. Police had been refusing to hand over his body and the companies he worked for did not take the responsibility, as he changed jobs on his own.

Foreign Employment Promotion Board collects Rs 1,000 from each migrant worker when they leave for foreign shores. “If they die during the contract period, they get Rs 1 lakh as compensation,” Sthaneshwor Devkota, DG of FEPB said. If they meet with accidents, they get medical allowance of up to Rs 1 lakh.” But Giri’s case falls in neither category.

Migrant workers send remittance that has been the life line of Nepali economy. The country received Rs 209.69 billion — that is 23.6 per cent to the GDP — as remittance in the last fiscal year.

Source: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=22+months+after+death%2C+body+back+from+Saudi&NewsID=246974