UAE DEMANDS MORE MAIDS Kathmandu, 2 Aug.: The number of Nepali women joining as housemaids in United Arab Emirates (UAE) has increased significantly since Nepal lifted a ban on domestic workers in Gulf countries, The Himalayan Times reports. According to the Nepali embassy in Abu Dhabi, some five to six Nepali housemaids have been joining jobs as housemaids every day. Nepal lifted the ban after introducing tougher rules aimed at making maids less vulnerable to unscrupulous recruitment agents. According to the rule, UAE nationals planning to hire Nepali housemaids must apply through the Nepali embassy submitting their family status, a deposit of Emirati Dirham 5,000 (Rs 120,000), and ensure fixed wages of Dh900 (Rs 21,700) a month, as well as food and accommodation. The embassy has been receiving applications for about half a dozen housemaids daily, said deputy chief of mission Dipak Adhikari. “Number of complaints have come down since tougher rules were introduced,” he said, adding that the situation in the UAE is satisfactory. According to the Department of Foreign Employment, Nepali women joining as housemaids in the UAE doubled last year. About 4,523 Nepali women migrant workers joined the jobs during the period while the number was 1,911 a year back. Lifting the ban helped increase the outflow of women workers last year. “Now the situation is slowing becoming favourable for Nepali housemaids,” said Nepali ambassador to the UAE Dhananjay Jha. “Cases of abuse and violence have significantly reduced,” he added. The embassy believes that the growing demand is also due to trust, loyalty and hard work shown by Nepali housemaids. 50 Nepalis serving time About 50 Nepalis have been serving jail terms in different jails of the UAE. According to the Nepali embassy there, most of the Nepalis are in jail for serious crimes like murder and theft. However, some workers have been jailed for petty financial crimes and for consuming liquor, said the deputy chief of the mission Dipak Adhikari. The Nepali embassy has been providing legal aid to only those jailbirds after being convinced that their cases are genuine, he added. nnnn PM FLEXING MUSCLES TO REVIVE DEAD PROJECTS Kathmandu, 2 Aug.: The power game in the corridors of the Ministry of Energy of late has left officials shocked and startled, Rudra Pageni writes in The Himalayan Times.. Multiple sources at the ministry told this daily that Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has been putting pressure on Energy Secretary Hari Ram Koirala to revive the 216-MW Upper Trishuli-I project. He has even asked to make preparations to re-award the licence to Nepal Water Energy Development Company, which was labelled disqualified on July 5, for it had failed to complete important tasks — connection agreement, including Power Purchase Agreement, Environment Impact Assessment approval, Financial Closure — in the five years given to it. As per Article 5 of the Electricity Act 1992, the energy secretary can scrap the licence of a company on the recommendation of the Department of Electricity Development. The prime minister’s move to resurrect the project, however, is against his own policy. After repeated requests from the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Prime Minister Bhattarai had brought a policy last year calling for scrapping of licences of those companies which were doing nothing but holding the licences. Sources said the prime minister was now putting pressure on the energy secretary to award the licence to NWEDC by invoking Article 35 of the Energy Act, as he himself is under pressure from the World Bank. “Article 35 is a hot topic in the ministry these days,” a senior official at the ministry told THT. Article 35 provisions the government or the Cabinet to take a decision to contract a person or a company for power generation. In addition, Prime Minister Bhattarai himself is holding the energy portfolio. Another official expressed his worry saying if the licence is (re)awarded to NWEDC through a Cabinet decision, the Ministry of Energy and the Department of Electricity will lose ground for scrapping licences of several other companies which also have done nothing to generate power but are holding licences and that such a move will only encourage trading of licences. Sources said the World Bank is lobbying for NWEDC and has even warned of withdrawing their support to the energy sector. But since Arun III fiasco some 17 years ago, the World Bank has not invested in the hyrdo sector. When asked, NWEDC General Manager Baburam Bharadwaj admitted that his company was yet to complete the feasibility study, including geological investigation, which is a must for a licence holder as per the law. NWEDC, owned by Brindawan Pradhananga, has already sold partial shares of the project to a Korean company. Records show that the company in the past too had sold licencees to foreign companies. An official said NWECD should not have taken the pressure-building route. “If it wants to fight legally, it should move the appeal court,” he said. Energy Secretary Koirala could not be contacted. nnnn