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Suicide Rate Among Nepali Workers Alarming
ABU DHABI - Paltry remunerations, tough work and bad economic conditions led several Nepalese expatriates to commit suicide in the UAE, an official of the Nepal Embassy in Abu Dhabi said on Tuesday.
- PUBLISHED: Wed 9 Sept 2009, 10:35 PM UPDATED: Wed 21 Aug 2024, 2:22 PM
On an average, every one and a half month's time a suicide case was reported in the UAE, which is a matter of serious concern for the Nepalese embassy.
Most of such cases involve those engaged in menial jobs.
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Talking to Khaleej Times, Lok BP Chhetri, second secretary at the Nepalese Embassy in Abu Dhabi said, “The poor labourers pay a hefty amount of money back home to find a job in the UAE. On arrival they find things different from what they dreamt of. The family and loan pressure traumatise them which lead to committing suicides.”
According to the Embassy records, till August 2009, five Nepalese committed suicide, while in 2008, eight people met with the same fate and five persons took fatal decisions in 2007, Chhetri said.
The official added that the workers have to clear their dues which they borrowed in Nepal to come here as well as meet their other pressing liabilities.
“Sometimes, we come across with reasons of suicide but more often we fail to figure out the true reason behind the cowardly acts,” he said.
“Generally, these workers are employed on a salary between Dh700 to Dh1,000 a month, which is insufficient or we can say nothing in the UAE as the cost of living and essential commodities has skyrocketed,” Chhetri said.
Normally, these labourers pay to agents back home over 100,000 Nepali rupees (approximately Dh4,700). When they arrive here, the visa expenses are deducted from their salaries every month.
“Analysing the causes behind such harsh decisions we also found out that family disputes are also major reasons behind such decisions,” he added.
To a question, he said, “Our government takes stringent action against unscrupulous and unregistered agents who exploit the workers by taking huge amounts of money to send them abroad.”
As the Embassy's regular awareness programme, it disseminates information through the people who are residing in different emirates of the country. They visit the Nepali workers' camps and communicate with them, Chhetri said.
anwar@khaleejtimes.com