Twenty nine Nepali nationals stranded in Saudi Arabia

Khotang, July 18: Twenty nine Nepali youths including 14 from Khotang district alone who had gone to Saudi Arabia for work have been stranded there.

They had gone to the Gulf country on February 13 but have been left in the lurch as they have neither got the work nor the pay as per the contract documents.

It is said they have got only 900 Saudi Riyals since starting work. But their employer company expelled them after they refused to go to work one day. Among the expelled youths, 14 are from Khotang district, said Bunadevi Bishwokarma, the assistant counsellor at the Safer Migration Project (Sami)’s information centre at Diktel.

According to Bishwokarma, among the stranded Nepalis in Saudi Arabia, three are from Sindhuli district, two each from Sarlahi, Makawanpur and Dailekh districts and one each from Bhojpur, Ramechhap, Dadeldhura and Kailali districts.

They went to Saudi Arabia through the Empower Overseas, a recruiting agency based at Mitra Park, Chabahil in Kathmandu. According to their contract, they had been sent to work in catering at the Sonmar Constructing Trading Advertising and Advertising Company in Saudi Arabia.

“The company expelled the Nepali workers on Monday when they refused to go to work in protest against non-payment of their salary. The company threw our bags and belongings out on the road,” Bishwokarma quoted Sheshan Shrestha of Jalpa, one of the victims, as telling her on the phone.

The expelled youths have urged the information centre and other related bodies to take initiatives for their immediate rescue. RSS