Kathmandu, March 5

Due to the increasing number of complaints related to fraudulent activities received from migrant workers and also those aspiring to go abroad for employment, the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) has cancelled the licence of 80 manpower agencies. The DoFE has said the list of those agencies whose licence has been cancelled is up to February 12 of the current fiscal year 2018-19.

According to DoFE, since fiscal 2009-10, licences of 196 manpower agencies have been scrapped and they have been completely closed down. Dilip Kumar Chapagain, director general of DoFE, said that the department has been taking action against those agencies who have been frequently involved in various fraudulent activities. According to him, one of the prime reasons for scrapping the licence of some manpower firms is because they have failed to renew their licence.

“We are also taking action against those agencies who send workers abroad and leave them stranded there,” he added. “Action has also been taken against firms who show no interest in rescuing workers sent by them when respective workers face problems in the destination.”

“If we find any manpower firm whose licence has been cancelled involved in any business activity related to foreign employment we will take even more stringent action against them as per law,” Chapagain warned.

According to him, the DoFE has started taking strict action against manpower firms as the number of complaints related to cheating and cases of workers being stranded abroad have started increasing every day.

“The government is closely monitoring all the agencies and we will not hesitate to take action if we find any of them involved in malpractices,” Chapagain said, adding that the department has been doing its best to provide justice to workers who have been cheated as soon as possible.

As per DoFE, it has been issuing warnings to almost 100 manpower agencies every month. “We have started coordinating with police at the local level where complaints are also lodged to take against the guilty,” he informed. “After receiving the complaints we segregate them based on the nature of the complaint and initiate proceedings accordingly. If the complaint is against an individual agent we resolve the issue within a day but if it is against a company then it takes a few more days depending on the nature of the complaint.”

According to him, on an average 10 migrant workers have been filing complaints at the department every day either against individual agents or companies. In recent years, the department has also started receiving complaints of fraudulent activities from workers in Europe and other developed countries where middlemen collect huge sums of money to send workers.