About 600 Nepali migrant workers in Qatar have taken to the streets, demanding that their employer should pay them not less than the minimum salary set by the government for Nepalis working in Qatar.

The migrants, working at Qatar Freelance Trading and Contracting and Qatar Middle East Company, complained that they had been paid only QR600 as against the minimum monthly salary of QR900 set by the Nepal government. They have stopped working in protest since Saturday, demanded that they be provided the set salary or sent back home with all facilities and perks due to. About 100 other foreign migrants have also joined in the protest.  Labour attaché at the Nepali embassy in Qatar, Lilanath Dahal, who visited the workers’ quarters recently to inquire about their problems, said the workers had complained about them being denied the previously agreed salary. Qatari officials had also visited the quarters and enquired about the conditions.

Dahal said the employers lamented their inability to increase salary of the protesting workers. “We cannot increase salary of the workers at this time. Rather we are ready to repatriate them,” Dahal quoted managers of the companies as saying. Narendra Thapamagar, a migrant worker from Bardiya, said that he was working with one of the companies at a monthly salary of QR 600 for the past four years. After all expenses he could hardly save money to send home, he complained. “We’d rather return home with all perks we are entitled to if our demand is not met,” he said.  

Published on: 24 November 2014 | The Kathmandu Post