By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, May 30: The government has decided to begin a massive rescue operation in a phase-wise manner to bring home the Nepali nationals stranded aboard due to the coronavirus restrictions.
The rescue will be done based on the urgency of the stranded people, said the government.
A meeting of the High Level Coordination Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 headed by Defence Minister Ishwar Pokhrel on Friday decided to rescue the stranded Nepali nationals soon. The initiation was taken as per the Cabinet decision of May 18 to bring stranded Nepalis home from abroad. The Cabinet had already endorsed the rescue operation procedure.
Based on the procedure, the committee has already prepared action plan to bring home the stranded Nepali nationals, whose lives have been overturned by the pandemic, from around the world..
Around 600,000 Nepalis have registered with embassies around the world for their repatriation, the government informed. Many of them are migrant workers who have lost their jobs and students and others who are simply unable to fly back home because of the coronavirus restrictions.
The Nepali nationals stranded in Qatar, Dubai, UAE, the Maldives and Bangladesh are in the priority list of the government.
Narayan Prasad Bidari, Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, who is also a spokesperson of the committee, said the rescue operation would be phase-wise.
“Priority will be given to the most vulnerable categories, with medical emergencies, pregnant women, disabled people, senior citizens and the bereaved people, among others,” said Bidari.
He said the Nepali nationals stranded in the third countries would be brought back after their authentication.
Bidari said the people who were in civil service and had reached the third country for study and training could also register their details in the Nepali embassies of the respective countries for their repatriation.
“Once the government receives the details of the stranded Nepali nationals, the rescue operation will be carried out in collaboration with the Nepal Airline Corporation and other airline companies,” Bidari said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would prepare chart of the people who wanted to return to the country along with their details, he said.
The Ministry for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation would make all the arrangements for the rescue operation, he added.
Likewise, the committee has also finalised certain Nepal-India border points from where the Nepali nationals stranded in India would be brought home.
According to Bidari, the Nepali nationals would be brought from Pashupatinagar, Kakkarbhitta, Rani, Thadi, Madar, Malangwa, Gaur, Birgunj, Sunauli, Maheshpur, Behaliya, Taulihawa, Krishnanagar, Jamunaha, Gauriphanta, Gaddachauki, Jhulaghat and the border of Darchula.