By Purushottam P. Khatri

Kathmandu, May 26:The government Monday approved a guideline to rescue the stranded Nepali citizens from abroad, including India.
Many Nepalis have been stranded in many countries around the world due to the prolonged lockdown that has been in place since March 24 in Nepal.A meeting of the Council of Ministers held at the official residence of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in Baluwatar this evening took the decision to this effect.
Talking to The Rising Nepal on telephone after the meeting, Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Padma Kumari Aryal confirmed that the Cabinet meeting approved the guideline for bringing Nepali nationals stranded abroad due to lockdown home.
Minister Aryal said that the government following the approved guideline would gradually begin to rescue the stranded Nepalis.
Minister Aryal, however, did not say anything regarding the number of Nepalis to be rescued.
Prime Minister Oli during his a televised address to the nation earlier on Monday said that the government would soon start rescuing the Nepalis from abroad.
A high-level coordination committee formed for the prevention and control of COVID-19 under Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Ishwar Pokhrel last week had instructed the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre-Operation (CCMC-Ops), an action body under the CCMC, to prepare a guideline to rescue the Nepalis who were stranded abroad and facing hardship.
According to one of the members at CCMC-Ops from the Ministry of Defence, the approved guideline has given first priority for the rescue of the citizens stranded in the Gulf countries and the Nepali students stranded in Europe and America.
Minister Aryal said that the government had prepared separate criteria for bringing Nepalis from different countries. She, however, did not tell anything about the date and the number of Nepalis to be rescued.
Similarly, the Cabinet meeting approved the revised guideline to manage body of the COVID-19 victims, according to Minister Aryal.
These two separate guidelines were prepared by the CCMC-Ops in coordination with the Ministry of Health and Population in consultation with the high-level coordination committee.
The previous body management guideline has given more power and responsibility to Nepali Army to manage the bodies of COVID-19 victims, but the new revised guideline has handed over some responsibility to the local body authorities to manage the bodies by applying safety measures like standing at least three metres away from the body in crematory, according to CCMC-Ops sources.