The Rising Nepal

Kathmandu, Sept. 19: Senior Civil Servant from the British Ministry of Defence and Colonel DG Hayes Wednesday invited representative of all Gurkha organisations and associations in the British Embassy Kathmandu to make an update on the situation regarding Gurkhas ex-servicemen.

In a press statement of United British Gurkha Ex-Servicemen's Association (UBGEAN) Nepal, the UK delegation focused on various points including the recent 19 per cent raise in the pension of the Gurkha soldiers by the Ministry of Defence.

During the meeting the UBGEAN strongly opposed the idea of percentage increase and said that they were fighting for equality and not percentage and would continue to fight as long as it was necessary, said the press statement.

The team highlighted that in future a new pension review system would be adopted to reflect the real market inflation and would soon sign a bilateral MOU with the Nepal government regarding the Gurkhas.

The delegation said that the pension could not be upgraded as the Gurkhas are already enjoying good pension as per the living standard in Nepal and that most institution here does not pay pension.

The UBGEAN also highlighted the problem faced by many Gurkhas who go to the UK to apply indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).
There have been cases where Gurkhas have been made to wait for as long as nine months to get a decision from the home office and finally told that their application has been rejected and are not allowed to appeal against the decision, said the press statement.