Foreign employment entrepreneurs have rued the action taken against the manpower firms by the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), arguing that the decision to penalize 44 firms were against the Foreign Employment Act, regulation and other existing laws.

Organizing a press meet on Wednesday, officials of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), the umbrella organization of recruiting agencies, demanded that the government immediately withdraw the decision.

The representatives from the penalized companies, present in the press meet, denied any wrongdoings.

The DoFE on Monday penalized 44 manpower companies and reprimanded 37 others on Monday for flouting the laws while sending Nepali youths for overseas jobs. The department slapped a fine of Rs 200,000 to a firm and Rs 100,000 each on 43 other companies after the monitoring and inspection team of DoFE found malpractices in their branch and agents offices.

“The ongoing monitoring and inspection is either intended to harass the manpower firms or a cheap popularity stunt of the DoFE officials,” Hansha Raj Wagle, president of NAFEA, said. “The monitoring should be systematic.”

He threatened to launch stern protest if the decision is not rolled back immediately. 
Kiran Kumar Ghimire, proprietor of Kanchan Human Resource, argued that the DoFE had flouted existing laws, regulations and policies related to foreign employment.

 “While 33 percent DoFE staff are under the scanner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the move is intended to divert the attention from this serious anomaly,” said Ghimire. 

However, Badri Kumar Karki, spokesperson of DoFE, told Republica that the decision won´t be withdrawn.

Published on: 27 March 2014 | Republica