[We post below Pette Pattisson's report published in The Guardian on a migrant worker, Ram Kumar Mahara, from one of the remote villages in Nepal. The migrant worker returned home after 6 months without a single dime in hand. The Qatari government's non-compliance with the international labour practices has been fiercely criticized. But it also appears things went wrong from Nepal in the very first place ! A Nepali labour minister, Kumar Belbase typified himself last year October when a video had gone viral from Kathmandu. Can't anybody fix labour problems in Nepal ? It has become very horrible, particularly, with those gone into the Arabian countries.- Editor]
If
things had gone well, Ram Kumar Mahara would be working on a Qatari building
site, earning around £120 a month helping the country to erect the
infrastructure that will enable it to host the football World Cup in 2022.
But
things didn't go well.
First
there was the pay. Ram Kumar says there wasn't any. Then there were the
conditions – 12-hour shifts, a shortage of food and finally, after a complaint
to the manager, summary removal from the labour camp. It was so distressing
that the 27-year-old Nepali lost his hair. After weeks in legal limbo at the
Nepali embassy in Doha, he finally made it home. The nightmare was over, but a
new one was just beginning.
"I spent six months in Qatar but did not receive a single rupee," he said from a
remote village in Nepal, where he has found
piecemeal work threshing cattle fodder.
"I
was reluctant to come back home as I didn't earn any money ... When I got home
my wife was weeping and even I did not feel good. I still feel very guilty. I
have not done anything since I got back," he said. "I just sit at
home looking after my children. I came here for 10 days of work ... but it does
not pay much."
Ram Kumar was one of the Nepali workers
who spoke to the Guardian for an investigation that exposed systematic
exploitation of Nepalese migrant workers in Qatar's booming construction
industry, including on a site directly linked to the 2022 World Cup.
The investigation found high levels of
fatalities (44 in eight weeks over the summer), terrible living conditions and
labour practices that in effect enslaved the migrant workers, depriving them of
pay, permits and freedom to move around.
He
paid a local agent in his village 120,000 rupees (about £775) to go to Qatar,
far in excess of the legal limit stipulated by the government. The only way he
could afford this was to borrow the money at an annual interest rate of 60%,
but because he was unable to send any money home, his debt quickly ballooned to
500,000 rupees.
"When
I was abroad, my wife took out more loans as my children were ill, so our debt
grew to this huge amount," explained Ram Kumar. "The only way I can
pay it off is by going back abroad."
In
Qatar, Ram Kumar says he sometimes went 24 hours without food – "12 hours'
work and then no food all night".
"When
I complained, my manager assaulted me, kicked me out of the labour camp I lived
in and refused to pay me anything. I had to beg for food from other
workers."
He
rapidly found himself trapped, without a salary or the exit permit he needed to
leave Qatar. Eventually, with the help of the Nepali embassy, he was able to
return home, but he had to leave his salary, and his dignity, behind.
Now
back home in Nepal, Ram Kumar may have escaped Qatar, but he is still bound by
the debt he took on in order to pay Nepali recruitment agents for his job
there. His attempts to get his money back have proved fruitless. "When I
got home I asked the local agent to return my money, as well as my unpaid
salary," he said. "He told me he would pay me back … but he has not
given me anything so far."
Despite
being deceived by his local agent, Ram Kumar places the blame for his ordeal
squarely with the Kathmandu-based agency, Marvelous Employment Nepal. There are
more than 700 registered recruitment agencies, known as manpower companies, in
the capital, Kathmandu. They rely on a network of thousands of unregulated
local agents, who send workers to them from across the country, often for
extortionate fees.
"It
is the manpower company that cheated me. I called them [from Qatar] after I did
not receive my salary, but they just consoled me every time saying they would
talk to the company," he said.
Marvelous
Employment Nepal denied any wrongdoing. "We sent the return air ticket to
bring Ram Kumar back from Qatar and we are no longer sending workers to that
company. We offered to help him get a job in another country," said Kumar
Gauli, the company's marketing director. "We are ready to negotiate with
Ram Kumar and help him as much as we can. We are willing to return what he paid
to us."
Marvelous
Employment Nepal disputed Ram Kumar's claim that he did not receive any salary
in Qatar.
"The
recruitment agency has basically tried to buy off Ram Kumar by offering him
another job instead of paying him the full compensation he deserves," said
Samar Thapa, of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions. "We have
to encourage the workers to punish the agencies or they will never change their
behaviour."
Until
then, Ram Kumar and his wife, Hira Devi, have little choice. "My husband
should go abroad again to work … so that we can pay back our loans and manage
our daily expenses," she said. "I am worried as I have small
children, two daughters and a son, to look after. I don't even have any land or
a home and we are in huge debt."
"If
people asked for my advice, I would say Qatar is not a good place, so don't go
to Qatar. I had a very hard time there," said Ram Kumar. "I would
tell people to go to other countries, but I would not recommend anyone to go to
Qatar."
