Kathmandu, May 2
Family of a young Nepali worker, who died on the job in Dubai about four years ago, has accused Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nepali Embassy in the UAE of trying to gobble up the compensation that the employer had provided.
The family of Tulsi Prasad Chapagain of Dhankuta levelled this allegation at a press conference at the Reporters’ Club on Monday.
Chapagain had left for Dubai to work for Royal Concrete Product seven years ago. Three years later, he died in an industrial accident.
The employer deposited two lakh dirham at a local court as compensation. Due to negligence on the part of the ministry and the embassy concerned, the bereaved family had to “spend lakhs of rupees” to get the money. At the press conference, Tulsi’s father Dhananjaya Chapagain said: It took us years to get the compensation money that the company’s owner, Naran Salvani, had deposited. We approached the Nepali embassy for compensation time and again, but the embassy paid no heed.
Dhananjaya said they finally got the money from the embassy after Asha Lama of Asha H4 Foundation took the initiative.
He said: After the embassy and the foreign ministry paid no heed to our pleas, I was willing to go to Dubai. Fearing that its conspiracies would come to the fore if I went to Dubai, the embassy collected the compensation and sent it to us.
Dhananjaya said they had to spend Rs 25 lakh for the Rs 57 lakh-rupee compensation.
On the occasion, Lama said many Nepali migrant workers and their families have been facing problems due to negligence on the part of Nepali embassies abroad. Lama said she is fighting legal battles for many migrant Nepali workers, accusing the Nepal government and embassies of not initiating processes for payment of compensation on behalf of migrant workers, who often get a raw deal abroad.
