Roshan Sedhai

The Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) and the concerned department have scrapped licenses of 265 manpower companies after anomalies of serious nature were found in foreign employment sector.

Some of those meted with revoking of license were found not following due legal process, while others were involved in fraud.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Employment said that another 211 manpower companies faced departmental action in last one year after an investigation found them indulging in various malpractices, including submission of fake documents to acquire the pre-approval.

“Following the investigation, the agencies were fined up to Rs 100,000 depending on the nature of their offense,” said a legal official of DoFE. “A majority of the companies punished with scrapping of license were involved in serious fraud cases. In some cases, they were scrapped for failure to comply with legal procedures like tax payment, renewal of license,” said the official official.

After the scrapping of 265 licenses, the number of manpower companies have now dropped to 767. The MoLE has authorised 1,032 manpower agencies to operate in the field so far. Despite these actions, the number of fraud related cases are still on the rise, with the DoFE receiving around  4-5 complaints of serious nature from migrant workers each day. 

According to the DoFE record, a total of 2,172 fraud cases worth over Rs 450 million were reported in the last fiscal year. As many of the victims do not file case at the department, stakeholders claim, the exact number of fraud cases could be many times more. There are complaints that the DoFE has failed to monitor the manpower agencies on regular basis due to lack of proper mechanism.

The biggest problem concerning the manpower agencies has been the overwhelming presence of unauthorised branch offices and agents in various cities across the country. Only 43 agencies have the permission from the ministry to run the branch office.

According to Purna Chandra Bhattarai, the department has started deploying team of inspectors to check unauthorised branche offices of manpower companies. “Such practices are widespread across the country.

However, many unregistered companies have stopped keeping board in public after we initiated inspection,” said Bhattarai. ‘’We have already inspected branch offices in Sunsari, Jhapa, Pokhara and Tanahun. Chitwan, Butwal and Nepalgunj will be our next stops.’’ 

Published on: 29 September 2012 | The Kathmandu Post