The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) said this in its recent report, where it pointed out that the scheme still lacks implementation and migrant workers continue to pay hefty amounts to recruitment agencies.

“The Department of Foreign Employment has not monitored whether the employer or recruiting agencies have paid for airfare, insurance, and visa fees,” read the OAG report findings revealed on April 12, 2019.

The government fails to implement the scheme even four years after the official announcement to ease migrant workers’ financial burden.

The scheme was launched with a mandate that employers will bear the visa and air travel expenses for workers going for employment in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and Malaysia.

The workers will just need to pay for medical tests, orientation training and recruiting agencies for their services.

Despite the scheme’s implementation, thousands of migrant workers are still paying amounts to recruitment agencies for jobs in foreign destinations.

“Implementation of free visa and free ticket scheme was never on the priority list of the government. The political commitment on the part of the government has lacked because of the fact that its implementation will hurt the recruiting agencies,” says Barun Ghimire, programme manager at the Law and Policy Forum for Social Justice.

The scheme remains pending despite the Forum’s pleas to Supreme Court and further judgment by the apex court for early enforcement of the same.

“The government agencies have so far side-lined the implementation of this scheme. This tendency shows the state’s old habit of leaving things at status quo,” adds Ghimire.

Prior to this in 2017, the parliamentary International Relations and Labor Committee had also concluded the scheme as a complete failure.

It’s surprising that the migrant workers are paying around NPR 50,000-900,000 for overseas jobs even after the scheme’s announcement.

“If the government wants to strictly enforce the policy, it easily can. At least, the government authorities can raid recruiting agencies regularly which will send a strong message to those involved in charging heavy amount to poor migrant workers,” says Ghimire.

Stay tuned for more updates on ‘Nepali migrants concerns’!

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Nepali Embassy Spokesperson Jeevan Prakash Shrestha revealed the Embassy’s plans to buy a new residence in a recent statement.

“The Government of Nepal has asked the Embassy to buy a new residence as the present residence doesn’t have space for parties and meetings,” says Shrestha.

As the reports say, the proposed residential property (nearly 10,000 sq.ft. area) is going to be costlier than the ex-US President Barack Obama’s new house purchased last year.

To our surprise, it is most likely to be a whopping USD 7.25 million worth property after the mandatory 3 percent closing fee set by the US Government for every buyer!

Some other sources from the Embassy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) say the property cost is about USD 8 million with USD 20,000 maintenance cost per month.

Speaking on the property’s cost, Shrestha explained that they would not go beyond the government’s budgetary allocation.

“The house we are planning to buy is a bit expensive because only a few houses meeting the government criteria were available in the area,” he adds.

Responding to the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) Nepal, Shrestha clarified that there are no plans to buy residences for staffers anytime soon.

As the sources say, the Embassy had published a procurement tender notice in 2017 itself and the process is currently at a conclusion stage.

However, the move is still under government’s perusal. “Why not buy an apartment at around US$ 740,000 to 925,000 (80 to 100 million rupees) to save the cost? What is the motive behind buying an 8-9 million dollars residence when there is already a four-story residence?” MoFA asked the Embassy citing Office of the Auditor General (OAG) report.

Currently, the Ambassador is residing in a four-story residence at the heart of Washington DC.

The post Nepal Embassy in US Plans ‘Biggie’ for its Envoy appeared first on Nepali Sansar.