Editorial: A painful wait for tickets

With visas in their hands and time slipping out of their hands quite fast, about 1400 workers selected under the Employment Permit System are awaiting to fly to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) for jobs. 

According to reports, this grim situation has arisen because of the inability of the global sales agent for Korean Air (South Korea’s flag carrier), Universal Tour and Travels, to provide flight tickets to these people. 

Meanwhile, the ‘responsible’ authorities have not been twiddling their thumbs in a difficult situation, if the EPS Section of the Department of Foreign Employment is any indication. 

Rather, they have found some excuse this time also, at a time when things at the Tribhuvan International Airport things are very far from hunky-dory, with the airport undergoing major upgradation that is expected to take months. 

A report quotes Kamal Raj Shrestha, spokesperson for the section, explaining the reason behind the workers’ plight: Between Dashain and Tihar, a large number of migrant workers had their visas issued and this has affected their departure. While very few flights operated in November, we have already received a schedule for sending 650 workers (to South Korea) in December. 

Under the existing scheme of things, the selected workers have to arrive in South Korea within three months from the date of issuance of their visas. Apparently, workers do not want to miss the deadline and lose the jobs that have come their way. 

At present, Korean Air operates three direct flights along the Kathmandu-Seoul sector and the workers selected under the EPS and traveling on relatively cheaper tickets cannot enjoy transit facilities along the journey. While Universal charges these workers about 1.19 lakh rupees for each flight ticket, it charges others flying the same sector around 1.5 lakh rupees per ticket. 

This is not the end of air travelers’ woes, though. Amid major upgradation of the TIA, passengers’ difficulties have only increased, what with unauthorized hikes in the prices of tickets.

It’s sad that the government has not only failed to retain the youths for giving Nepal a turnaround, it has also failed to ensure a relatively comfortable journey to those workers, who wish to toil abroad and send remittances home. 

Responsible authorities like the Civil Aviation of Authority of Nepal and the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation should bring a semblance of order before absolute chaos reigns supreme at the aviation sector.