Happned in the world 2nd richest country..

73 Nepali workers await repatriation

RAJESH MISHRA - DOHA Durga Bahadur Pun, a Nepali expatriate working in a trading and contracting company, which is reportedly being run by a Singaporean national, breathed a sigh of relief on Friday when he got his nine months’ pending salary. Pun belongs to the group of 120 interior decoration workers from Nepal here. Forty-seven of them left for Nepal recently after the company cleared their dues and provided their air tickets, but 73 still await their repatriation.

Despite having worked for the last 22 months, he has been struggling to make both ends meet because of the denial of his salary. Pun was so excited that he called his family members immediately, rekindling their hope of his return. However, when they asked him when they could expect him back home, he was at a loss. “I felt like crying. I simply do not have any idea when I will be able to go back to my family,” he remarked. “Initially we were paid our salaries but for the last nine months we did not get a single penny. Somehow we managed to pull on with our savings, which were meant for home,” Pun added.

According to Pun, barring two or three foremen who got a monthly salary of QR 1,000, most of the workers got between QR 500 and QR 600 monthly and only 20 percent of the Nepali workers had resident permits. After being denied salary for nine continuous months and waiting in vain for some reconciliation to take place between themselves and the management, the workers finally approached the Nepal embassy, which asked them to go to the Labour Court.

The Labour Court finally passed the judgement in favour of the workers and the company repatriated 47 of them after clearing their dues. Talking to Qatar Tribune, the Ambassador of Nepal to Qatar His Excellency Dr Surya Nath Mishra said that the company had also assured phase-wise repatriation of the workers soon.

About another set of 45 workers, who fell into the trap of a Nepali human trafficker and were denied resident permits and salaries, the ambassador said that only three or four of them were awaiting their repatriation as the tickets for most of them had either been provided by middlemen or they managed it themselves.

Source: http://qatar-tribune.com/data/20090328/content.asp?section=exclusive1_1

This is very sad that this can be happen in the world second richest country. Even more sad that these companies do it again and again, seems like they are prone to any country law. Where is so called Labour Law, Human Right and bla bla......