Find alternative now

The government’s failure to issue Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) by the given deadline of April 1 is said to now cost the foreign employment sector dearly. This will directly affect hundreds of Nepalis aspiring for jobs abroad. This is a sheer case of negligence and inaction on the part of the authorities concerned who in spite of seeing such a situation emerging continued to delay decision on importing MPRs on time. After heavy debate and severe criticism from parliamentary committee, media and civil society, the cabinet on March 19 took a decision to import four million MRPs from Indian Security Printers. India has said that it will take 10 weeks to deliver the passports. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has blatantly said that the first phase of passports issuance will happen only from the capital and it will take another two months to take it to other parts of the country.



But jobs will not wait until then. No company in the Gulf or Malaysia for instance will wait in anticipation when hundreds of workers from other countries like Bangladesh will readily be available to take those. More than 600 Nepali men and women queue up for taking passports in a day in Nepal for foreign employment. The trend is that they seek passports only after receiving a confirmation letter from the foreign employers. This was the main reason why hundreds of Nepalis set to leave for foreign jobs did not take passports before April 1 as asked by the Foreign and Labor Ministries. No government can make its own citizens victims of a circumstance which they did not create in the first place. If the passports are not issued, it will have direct bearing on national coffer as remittance will decline, the pinch of which will be known within six months time. As it is, the decline in growth rate of remittance has already been identified as a chief cause of deficit in the balance of payment. The growth rate of remittance in the first six months of the current fiscal year is only 12.5 percent, whereas it was around 40 percent in the same period last year.



The government thus must find an alternative solution to the problem immediately to give relief to the poor workers. Experts have suggested that the government should request the International Civil Aviation Organization for an extension and ask India to supply MRPs on installment basis so that passport issuance is not brought to a complete halt. This is a practical proposition and the concerned ministries must give it a serious thought. It is because of the incompetence on the part of the government that such a situation has come to stay in the country, and logically then the government must bear the onus of solving the problems facing the foreign employment agencies and workers. Had the political leaders not spent much of their time in intra-party wrangling and in commission racket, MRPs could have been delivered on time. It is now the responsibility of the state to end this state of uncertainty and soon give a public notice with suitable alternative arrangements.

Related story

NC spokesperson Mahat urges govt to find alternative to Banchar...