KATHMANDU: Malaysian authorities ruthlessly rounded up around 250 Nepalese migrant workers as part of its crackdown on illegal migrant workers.

Though the camppaign aims at clearing the nation of illegal migrant workers, Nepalese workers there reported that the authorities detained them without even giving them a chance to produce their papers.

Confirming the crackdown, Deputy Director at the Enforcement Division of the Department of Immigration (Malaysia) M Saravana Kumar said that the exact number of Nepalese and how many of them were illegal could be told only after dealing with the detained individually, The Himalayan Times reported on Tuesday.

Most of these Nepalese were reported to be detained from Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley and Johor, Saravana informed.

If found living illegaly in Malaysia, the worker might be deported, imprisoned or fined, Saravana was quoted by saying adding that all of the detained will be produced before a public prosecutor.

Malaysia is working home for more than 4 lakh Nepalese. More than four lakh Nepalis are employed in Malaysia.

These immigrant workers had left working in their respective company demanding healthy food and payment and were forced to seek assylum in the embassy when local security forces attempted to detain them.

These workers had gone on strike since Saturday and even though the administration of the company had called them for talks, the talks were derailed after the five Nepalese negotiators were detained by the police.

These workers include some with no identity cards and immigration papers, some of them have been living their without any payment for the past six months, and some with undiagnosed ailments.

KATHMANDU: The Malaysian government is preparing for the biggest ever crackdown on around half million illegal migrant workers across the nation.

The crackdown will begun from Sunday and will be implemented by over one lakh 35 thousand security forces, Malaysian newspaper The Star reported.

The operation to be headed by the immigration officials will be backed by armed and unarmed security forces and will basically center in areas surrounding Kwalampur, Selengar, Penang and Johorbar among others.

Since the state has the capacity of detaining only 12 thousand illegal immigrant workers, preparations have been made to deport all illegal migrants instantly.

The initiative is part of the Malaysian government to legalize migrant workers in the country. Two years earlier it had started the Be Legal or Return Home program which colleced bio-metric data of all migrant workers in the country. Though many illegal migrant workers participated in it, most of them have not participated in it lately and updated their status.

Of the illegal migrant workers, most of them are Indonesians and rest of them are Bangladeshis, Nepalese, Burmese and Veitnamese the report said.

The crackdown will continue for the coming three months and officials said that they were hopeful to nail down every illegal migrant worker during this time frame.

KATHMANDU: Narvada Devi, a Nepali poetess residing in the United States for a long time has published her first poem anthology- Chattan (Rock).

Bairagi Kainla, Chancellor of Nepal Academy inaugurated the anthology amid a special program in Kathmandu on Saturday.

Kainla appreciated the contribution of Nepali expats to Nepali literature and Nepali economy. Elaborating on the issues covered by the anthology, Kainla said that poems reflected the current socio-economic situation and added that the poems have called to fight back against odds like a rock.

Speaking on the occasion, Utendra Dahal said that the poems reflected day to day life events of common people and added that the stylistics matched the content and theme of the poems.

Journalist Harihar commented that the anthology will be great inspiration for all women and appreciated the efforts of Narvda Devi for putting her views and feelings in those poems.

Shrestha received the ‘President’s Educational Award’ for attaining excellence in grade 8 at Lanier Middle School of Virginia state of USA.

The honor is given to the extraordinary students in school-level based on their educational standard, character and extracurricular activities.

Honoring him, the US President handed him a letter of honor and letter of congratulations with his signature, wishing a bright future for Shrestha. Born at Om Bahal in Kathmandu, he had also won the same honor in 2011.

USA: A Nepali Music School named as Premee Kala Kendra has been established in Fairfax City of Virginia near Washington DC of the USA.

Famous Nepali singer Prem Raja Mahat and Mira Rana took initiatives to establish the music school.

Nepali Ambassador to the USA Dr Shankar Prasad Sharma inaugurated the music school amidst a function.

On the occasion, Dr Sharma said that establishment of the music school has added new dimension to Nepali diaspora and DC metropolitan area.

He said many would be benefited by this school as the number of Nepalis in the USA was rising day by day.

Likewise, Mahat said that all genres of music including drama, music, dance and others would be included in the school.

KATHMANDU: Veteran sociologist Dr Ganesh Gurung has been honored in the UK last week. Different organizations honored Dr Gurung for his contribution to Nepal’s economy, especially in the field of labor migration, and raising the voices of migrant workers.

On the occasion, Dr Gurung’s spouse Durga and daughter Dr Minani were also honored.

The organizations honoring the former member of the National Planning Commission Dr Gurung were Tamudhi UK, Tamudhi South East London Plumstade and others.

Receiving the felicitation, Dr Gurung expressed his happiness for getting chance to meet his former colleagues.

During the program, Nepali community in the UK also organized an interaction with Dr Gurung.

On the occasion, Dr Gurung said that Mt. Everest, Lord Buddha and Gurkha veterans have helped spread information on Nepal.

During the interaction program, Chairman of Tamu Samaj UK Shiva Sharan Gurung, founder chairman Chitra Gurung, associate professor Narayan Gurung were also present.

‘It’s a duty of every Nepali to save the life of nation-saving leader,’ said literary person Gyanendra Gadal.

The Nepalis living in Florida, Colorado, Texas, Atlanta, New York, Washington DC, Boston and South Carolina states are collecting the money.

After the publication of news that ailing Mr Shrestha lacked money for treatment, different institutions and the kind Nepalis are spontaneously donating for his treatment.

They have further urged the Government of Nepal to heed his treatment.

KATHMANDU: Incumbent Secretary of Non Resident Nepalis Association (NRNA) TB Karki has announced his candidacy for the post of Vice-chair of the NRNA’s upcoming General Convention.

The NRNA’s world conference is schedule to hold from October 19 to 22 in Kathmandu.

Announcing his candidacy, Karki has also unveiled a 17-point charter of his commitments pledging to make the NRNA further stronger, efficient and enhance institutional development.

Karki has pledged to pitch for establishing the Nepali Embassy or Office of the General Consular in the countries having more than 10,000 Nepalis.

UAE: The second monthly meeting of Syangja Banethok Deurali Sewa Samaj of UAE was held in Metro Park of Dubai on Friday.A large number of migrant workers from Banethok Deurali VDC were present at the meeting.

The Samaj was established with a view to helping Nepalis in UAE and the village in Syangja district.

On the occasion, the members of the Samaj discussed the ways to bring their knowledge and money back home for the development of village.

Chairman of Samaj Keshar Jung Adhikari presided over the program.