Govt to bear all costs for Libya evacuation

KATHMANDU, March 2: A day after members of parliament flayed the government for not dealing seriously with the problem of Nepali migrant workers stranded in Libya, a cabinet meeting on Tuesday decided to bear all expenses for bringing them back from the strife-torn North African country.

The government decision came after some manpower agencies, which had sent Nepali workers to Libya for various construction projects run by foreign employment companies, refused to pay 50 percent of the total repatriation cost.

The government´s latest decision is expected to accelerate the evacuation of Nepali workers from Libya, where violent clashes continue between anti-government protestors and supporters of Col Muammar Gaddaf.

"At a recent meeting with manpower agencies, I had myself proposed that they bear half the total expenses. Although some manpower agencies agreed, some others said they were financially not capable of that," Ganga Lal Tuladhar, spokesperson of the government, told Republica. "The government took this decision assuming that Nepali workers stuck in Libya would have to suffer more, and longer, if we tried to strike a deal with all the manpower agencies."

According to Tuladhar, who is also a minister without portfolio, if a manpower agency has already spent its own money to rescue Nepali workers, it will be reimbursed. However, the manpower agency will have to show ample proof of having spent its own money. "I hope no manpower agency will claim reimbursement if it has already been reimbursed by the employer company to rescue the workers," he clarified.

The government will spend from the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund (FEWF), which has been collecting Rs 1,000 from each migrant worker before he goes overseas. The fund is handled by the Foreign Employment Promotion Board. An amount of over Rs 750 million has already been collected in the fund. Earlier, the government had allocated $ 30,000 for the Nepali embassy in Egypt for the repatriation.

726 reach Sudan

Of the remaining 998 Nepali workers, 726 who were working in and around Ghat city of Libya at a construction project run by Shino Hydro Company of China, have been airlifted to Sudan, south-east of Libya.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the Chinese company has already chartered two flights to bring Nepali workers from Sudan to Kathmandu. While the first chartered flight is due to land in Kathmandu on March 3, the second flight will take off from Sudan the following day.

"We are trying to rescue more workers from Tripoli, Misrata and Sirte in Libya," said Tirtha Aryal, first secretary at the Nepali embassy in Egypt, which also oversees Libya. According to Aryal, the most challenging task is to evacuate Nepali workers from Tripoli, capital of Libya.

"Although international airports in Tripoli have not shut down, there are no regular flights. We need to charter flights to evacuate Nepali workers from Tripoli," Aryal told Republica. Over 150 workers are still stuck in Tripoli alone. "They are under threat," Aryal said. "The senior executives of almost all employer companies have already abandoned the Nepali workers, which has increased the level of threat they face."

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