MoLTM asks embassies to find facts about Nepali labourers

The Ministry of Labour and Transportation Management (MoLTM) has said that it has mobilized concerned Royal Nepalese Embassies to seek out the facts regarding the detention of some Nepalese workers in Kuwait.

Issuing a press statement on Monday, the MoLTM said that the ministry is concerned about the news story that eighty Nepalese were stranded in Kuwait since the last ten months.

"Proprietor of the River Overseas, responsible for sending them has been taken into custody for interrogation," the statement added.

The Ministry's response came after the Nepalis stranded in Kuwait appealed to the government to initiate efforts for their release.

According to media reports, eighty Nepalis, who were swindled by agents, bound for Iraq for foreign employment have been stranded in Kuwait since the last ten months.

The jobseekers, which reached Kuwait via India, have mentioned that they were to work as security guards in Iraq.

Reports quoted Hom Bahadur Thapa, one of the victims, as saying that they were duped by the manpower agency after reaching Kuwait.

All of them had signed a contract with a monthly pay scale of nearly Rs 100,000 for the job.

The Nepalis in the letter further said that a Phillipino woman has been detaining them illegally after their visa expired.

The number of labourers going to Iraq is on the rise despite the brutal murder of 12 Nepalese last September by a terrorist group there. nepalnews.com pb Dec 19 05