KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 21
Kathmandu Metropolitan City has issued a public notice requesting persons rendered jobless due to the COVID-19 pandemic to contact its ward offices for relief under the ‘Cash for Work’ scheme.
The metropolis said it had already put in place a procedure to guarantee a source of livelihood for daily wagers, who have been rendered jobless after the pandemic and nationwide lockdown. The procedure came into force following approval of the municipal executive of KMC.
According to KMC, the procedure aims to help thousands of daily wagers and their families residing in the city to cope with the situation worsened by measures to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
As per the procedure, the concerned wards will mobilise unemployed daily wagers in public infrastructure development, maintenance, sewerage and footpath management, heritage conservation and beautification, public park protection and greenery development, sanitation and waste management and other works as prescribed by KMC.
Labourers, who have been residing inside KMC for the past six months and are physically capable of working in the assigned areas, will benefit from ‘Cash for Work’ scheme. “One person from each family of daily wagers will be mobilised for at least twice a week. The labourers will get a wage fixed by the Government of Nepal for unskilled workers,” reads the notice issued by KMC last week. For the running fiscal, the government has set minimum monthly wage of unskilled labourers at Rs 13,450.
The concerned ward secretary or member will maintain daily attendance of daily wagers in the field. Work duration will be generally eight hours a day. KMC has already collected data of daily wagers living in Kathmandu for this purpose.
Though the government recently said no one should die of hunger during the pandemic that has deprived tens of thousands of poor people and daily wagers of their livelihoods, it has yet to announce a comprehensive relief package for them.
The pandemic brought almost all economic activities to a grinding halt.
Rights bodies have expressed concern about the devastating impact of the pandemic on poor people, who work in informal sector with none or little savings, after the lockdown.
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