The Foreign Employment Board has decided to distribute compensation to the families of 104 migrant workers who died in Nepal while on leave or during treatment when their work permits were still valid.

Dil Bandhu Subedi, the board’s spokesperson, told the Post that the decision was made after many families of the deceased migrant workers complained of not receiving any indemnity following the death of their loved ones while they were still employed with their companies abroad.

“After investigating into the complaints, the board has decided to give compensation to those families who meet the criteria and produce the required documents,” Subedi said.

The board secretariat has allocated Rs66.6 million for its compensation programme.

The families of deceased migrant workers could claim compensation from the Migrant Workers’ Welfare Fund (MWWF) within one year of their arrival to the country or end of their contract.

The government had extended the compensation claim period in 2017. Before that, the families of migrant workers were eligible for compensation only if their loved ones had died or suffered injuries in their countries of employment during their contract period.

With the latest decision of the board, the family of Tejendra Bhandari, who had died in a road accident in Saudi Arabia, will also get the government’s assistance.

Bhandari was involved in a road accident along with another Nepali man, Subash Tamang, on July 9, 2015. Both of them had suffered severe head injuries to the point where they were unrecognisable. When Bhandari died in the course of treatment, he was misidentified as Tamang and his body was repatriated to Tamang’s family.

The case of mistaken identity was discovered after nearly one year.

By then, Tamang’s family had cremated Bhandari and claimed compensation from the government.

Tamang remains comatose since the accident.

“Since the death certificate was issued in the name of Subash Tamang, it was his family who received the compensation. The family of Tejendra Bhandari could neither cremate his body nor claim compensation,” said Subedi.

As per the board’s decision, Bhandari’s family will receive Rs 300,000, the same amount of compensation that the government was providing in 2015.

Meanwhile, the board is also preparing to bring back the 28 Nepali workers who are either paralysed or in coma in countries, including South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab of Emirates.

According to Subedi, a task force has been formed to recommend the repatriation process of incapacitated workers, legal and policy mechanism for their treatment and estimated treatment cost, among others.