Manpower agencies defy govt direction
KATHMANDU:
More than 50 per cent of foreign employment agencies have not submitted their details on fees collected from outbound workers, number of Nepali workers supplied to different countries and other documents as sought by the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE).
Out of 751 agencies, only a little over 300 companies have provided the information by today evening to DoFE. Today was the last day of extended deadline given to the companies to submit documents about their annual transaction of the last three years, number of workers sent, office branches and authorised agents, among others.
DoFE had demanded the details from manpower companies after it was instructed by the International Relations and Labour Committee (IRLC) of the Legislature-Parliament to provide details of each agency for investigation. “We gave extra time of one week on December 2 but only a little more than 300 agencies have submitted their details,” said a source at DoFE.
The department had provided extra time as a majority of companies had not submitted the details by the earlier deadline and even the companies that had submitted them lacked some important information.
Amid reports of fraud cases in the foreign employment sector surfacing rapidly, the committee on November 18 had decided to look into the case of each foreign employment agency and asked DoFE to provide the details within 35 days. In this regard, the panel had directed the government to provide relevant information, including names of proprietors, their employees’ list, documents of their permit renewal and details of their branch offices.
The committee basically wants to see how outbound workers are being charged by agencies for job placements abroad and their billing and record-keeping system, according to the DoFE source.
Based on the findings of the investigation, the committee is planning to make recommendations to the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) to come up with necessary provisions to make the foreign employment sector safer and more organised.
On November 9, too, the committee had instructed DoFE to provide relevant information, like names of the proprietors of the manpower agencies, addresses, contact numbers, companies’ permanent account number (PAN), and number of workers supplied and receipts. Later, it sought more details citing information was insufficient to conduct a thorough investigation.
DoFE officials said that they would provide the details of agencies as demanded by IRLC. “We will take action against agencies failing to provide the details as per the Foreign Employment Act 2007,” said Badri Karki, spokesperson for DoFE.
As per Clause 54 of the Act, DoFE may first issue a warning to any licensee who fails to follow the instructions, slap a fine of Rs 50,000 for the second instance and another Rs 100,000 along with revocation of licence, for the third instance.
Source: THT
