KATHMANDU: With the migrant workers in Kuwait getting amnesty due to Coronavirus pandemic, 2,500 Nepali nationals are counting days to return to Nepal.

Currently, they are staying at a shelter in Kuwait for the last ten days.

The Kuwait government has been providing them with food and lodging after waiving all the fine charged to them. It has even pledged to bear the cost of airfare for their return.

India, China and Myanmar, Thailand and Bangladesh have already allowed their citizens to return to their respective countries. But Nepal is still ignoring the call from their citizens stranded in the foreign land, said Sujan KC, chairman of NRN Kuwait.

“The Nepal government does not have to bear the airfare for taking back their citizens home. Kuwait will itself airlift them via a charted plane. Yet, the Nepal government is not taking the initiative,” said KC.

It is estimated that over 7,000 Nepali migrant workers are staying in Kuwait illegally, of whom 3, 500 are making preparations to return home.

Currently, 2, 500 are at the shelter, according to the Kuwait government.