The posts of labor attache in five destination countries for Nepali migrant workers have remained vacant for some while as the government has failed to make new appointments.

The tenure of the labor attaché to South Korea, Anil Gurung, ended 10 months ago while the post in Saudi Arabia has remained unoccupied for more than three months following Krishna Dawadi's return to Nepal. Likewise, the labor attaché to Qatar, Lila Nath Dahal, returned to Nepal two months ago following his promotion. The attache in Bahrain, Bishwo Nepupane, completed his term over two months ago. The UAE also remains without a labor attaché from Nepal.

The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) has called for applications for the vacant posts of labor attaches for Saudi Arabia, South Korea, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain but the appointment process has been postponed for an indefinite period for no specific reason. MoLE also announced vacancies for four section officers for Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Cancellation of the appointment process for an indefinite period may directly affect the migrant workers.

"The government is making internal preparations for appointments to the vacant posts of labor attaches and section officers," said Keshav Joshi, legal advisor at the ministry. "There are some complications involved and we are trying to sort these out at the earliest."

The government has been appointing under-secretaries as labor attaches for Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Qatar, UAE and Malaysia, and one section officer is also assigned to each of these countries.

A highly-placed source at MoLE said that as there are no ambassadors at the embassies in many of the labor destination countries the labor attaches become the focal point of those missions. "The priority now is to resolve the dispute between the government and manpower agencies regarding implementation of 'zero cost' recruitment."

One of the applicants, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Republica that the priority of the government shifted after implementation of zero cost and the appointment process was halted without any reasonable cause. A total of 20 candidates had applied for the eight posts announced.

Malaysia is the first destination country for Nepali migrant workers, followed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Malaysia hosts more than 900,000 migrant workers from Nepal, according to data at the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE).

The Foreign Emploment Act 2007 directs MoLE to appoint at least one gazetted officer as labor attaché in a destination country where more than 5,000 Nepali migrants are employed. Under the Act, the government can appoint a female officer as labor attaché in a destination countries hosting more than 1,000 women migrant workers.

Published on: 18 July 2015 | Republica