Starting Tuesday, 800 Nepalis to return home daily

Kathmandu / Aug 31: The government has decided to allow a maximum of 800 people to enter Nepal via air route from Tuesday.

Prior to this, the government had set the limit to 500 people. However, with mounting pressure from stranded Nepalis abroad, the number has been increased by 300. International air services, including scheduled commercial flights and repatriation charter flights, are set to resume from Tuesday.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation will manage the number of flights and passengers on the basis of availability of hotel quarantines. Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, Yubaraj Khatiwada said that the number of passengers brought to Nepal through regular scheduled flights or charter flights should not exceed 800. “It requires coordination between a lot of bodies. There were some incidents where flights had to be cancelled last time around,” he said, “The flight had to be cancelled due to the lack of availability of quarantine facilities.”

Similarly, the cabinet meeting on Sunday has decided to allow Non-resident Nepalis (NRNs) to come to the country after recommendations by the diplomatic missions in the designated countries. “The diplomatic mission will recommend the names of NRNs if a member of his family dies or if he has to visit Nepal for serious medical treatments,” he said, adding that after the situation is confirmed the individual will be allowed to come to Nepal.

Charter repatriation flights will be carried out from countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where PCR tests are not accessible. “The flights will be managed for those who are willing to come back to Nepal at their own expenses or if their companies pay for the fare in case their employment contract has expired,” he added.

International students who are required to come to Nepal for examinations will also be allowed to enter Nepal if their teachers and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology verify such requests. Khatiwada said that such students need to follow all the protocols prepared by the government and produce PCR negative test reports issued within 72 hours at the time of boarding the aircraft.