DHANGADI, July 9: Nepali workers have started returning to India for employment again after two months of enforced prohibitory orders inside the country. Thousands of Nepali citizens have started flocking the Gauriphanta and Banbasa border checkpoints to enter India, blaming unemployment inside Nepal for their search for jobs in the neighboring country. 

Many of those now returning to India had come to Nepal after losing their jobs in the neighboring country about two months ago, following the spread of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to Anil Nepali, a person heading to India with hopes of finding a new job, “I came back to Nepal in April and am going back again.” He also stated his woes regarding the lack of employment in Nepal and expressed his sadness at having to leave his home and family to find a job in India. 

“I was free after planting the crops in the village and after hearing about the free movement at the border, I have decided to leave for Mumbai till Dashain,” Ramesh Rawat, a resident of Kanchanpur said. “It is better to leave for India for two months instead of sitting idle here,” he added.

The movement of Nepalis returning to their homeland and going back to India for employment is very common, Rawat said. “Due to the ongoing pandemic, we had to come back and forth for our safety, which has further depleted our money and savings,” Rawat added. “I have no interest in leaving my homeland if only I could get a decent job here,” he said.

Prior to the ongoing second wave of the pandemic, Rawat struggled to find a job in India for nine months. He was finally employed at a hotel in Mumbai for four months before leaving for Nepal due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. “I had no other choice but to leave for Nepal with only four months worth of salary in my hands, and now I am returning to India again,” Rawat said.

According to Deepak Malla, chairperson of the Far-Western Society of Nepal in India, many Nepali citizens have lost their age and their money while traveling between India and Nepal with hopes of finding a job. 

The Nepalis who returned to their homeland due to the pandemic are now heading toward India again, Pramod Pathak, a civil society leader said. “Many of the people who returned to Nepal due to the pandemic said they faced a greater risk of dying of hunger in Nepal rather than dying of the disease in India. However, the lack of unemployment and facilities inside the nation has left citizens with no alternative than to head for the neighboring country again,” he added.

“The provincial government should now create opportunities inside the country by understanding the problems of the citizens,” Pathak said. He also expressed his worry regarding the waste of age and money of the citizens who travel back and forth between the two countries for the sake of finding employment.

The number of Nepali citizens leaving the country is increasing day by day. As many as 14,879 people have left the country through the Gaddachowki customs point and Tri Nagar customs point in the past week.

 
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