The Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) under the ‘Mobile DoFE’ campaign has padlocked five manpower offices in the eastern development region for flouting rules.

The ‘Mobile DoFE’, led by director general of the department Krishna Hari Pushkar, inspected 43 manpower firms in the eastern development region on Wednesday and Thursday. Of the firms, three from Itahari in Sunsari district — Komal International, Munal International and White Horse International — and two from Pathari — BM and GCD — in Morang district were sealed.

“The five manpower offices were sealed because the team found that they were operating as 

manpower agencies whereas they were only agents of the firm,” said spokesperson at DoFE Badri Karki. 

Karki also said that the way the offices were operating could deceive foreign job aspirants into believing that they were dealing with manpower agencies themselves and not agents. “The hoarding and sign boards at the offices did not have the name of the manpower agencies on behalf of whom they were working,” he explained.

The agents will be allowed to reopen their offices after meeting the criteria as prescribed by DoFE, like having the name and address of the parent manpower agency on the sign board, along with 

details of their role as a facilitator, among others.

The mobile team also inspected 19 manpower firms in Birtamode, Jhapa. According to the department, most of the firms there were only issued warnings and ordered to operate as per rules and regulations.

The manpower offices comprised both the branches of manpower agencies whose head offices are in Kathmandu and manpower agents’ offices that are being operated by agents themselves. These agents are hired by the concerned manpower agencies under certain legal contract.

“Regarding the branches, the inspection campaign found that most of them were functioning 

satisfactorily but were not really accountable to the beneficiaries. And in this regard, regular inspection is a must,” said Karki.

According to Karki, “DoFE has initiated ‘Mobile DoFE’ campaign from eastern development region to minimise the chances of foreign job migrants being duped by manpower agencies and agents from grassroots level and the campaign will soon be extended to the remaining four development regions.”

The campaign also organised an interaction programme called ‘Complaint Management and Fraudulent Control’, which was participated by manpower firms, victims of manpower firms, police department and District Administration Office Morang. In the programme, most of the victims reported that agents and branches hold their passports for a long time and demand more money than the ceiling marked by the government.

“In this regard the ‘Mobile DoFE’ is inspecting the concerned manpower firms who have allegedly taken more money than prescribed by the government. Whereas, in case of manpower firms withholding passports, the ‘Mobile DoFE’ collected 93 passports from two firms — All Vision and Manjushree — located in Itahari and returned them to concerned aspirants,” Karki said. He added that the team also verbally warned the firms for holding passports because as per the rule, it should be immediately forwarded to the concerned manpower agencies.

Realising the need for frequent inspection and transparency in the sector, the department has also delegated additional authority to all 10 Labour Offices located in various places in the country to curb fraudulent activities plaguing the sector. Though labour offices had been authorised to conduct inspection as necessary, they were not exercising their authority properly.

 Published on:  28 February 2014 | The Himalayan Times