Roshan Sedhai

The Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies ( NAFEA ) has threatened to padlock the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) from Tuesday for failing to provide smooth service to migrant workers.

The DoFE has not been able to carry out its work promptly as it was left shorthanded after many of its employees were arrested on corruption charges. Last week, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) apprehended 18 DoFE officials including a director.

Manpower agency operators said the DoFE, a frontline office assigned to provide service to some 2,000 migrant workers, has not been performing its regular duties citing a lack of human resources and other technical problems.

NAFEA Chairman Bal Bahadur Tamang said migrant workers were facing problems obtaining their pre-work approval and final work approval. He accused DoFE officials of intentionally neglecting service seekers by making excuses like inadequate staff and Arabic translators and losing the password to the computer and the key to the cupboard. Meanwhile, even migrant workers who have acquired their work approval have been sent back by immigration at Tribhuvan International Airport at the last moment before their flight.

“The migrant workers have to deal with bureaucratic hassles. While one government office gives them permission to go abroad, another stops them at the last hour claiming that there is a problem in their paperwork,” said Tamang. Although exact records are difficult to obtain, airport immigration reportedly stopped around 500 workers last week pointing to errors in their documents.

NAFEA has demanded that the government bear the cost of the cancelled tickets and accommodation of the workers left stranded. “The government should take the entire blame as the workers have nothing to do with the official work. They should be compensated according to their loss,” said Tamang.

DoFE officials have admitted failing to provide proper service during the last few days, but said things were back to normal. The department’s records show it issued final work approval to 2,200 workers departing through manpower agencies in the last three days. The number of workers going through individual channels stood at 2,000 during the same period.

“We have received additional staff and Arabic translators now. There will be no problem handling the work pressure from now onwards,” said DoFE spokesperson Divash Acharya. He added that backlog files would be released within a few days.

In an attempt to bring the work pace of its line department to normalcy, the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) has also started deploying additional staffers from Tuesday. The ministry has assigned some 10 staffers to the department among whom a few are yet to join regular duties.

Buddhi Bahadur Khadka, head of the Foreign Employment Division under the MoLE, said they were doing their best to avoid hindrances. “We will send a few more staffers depending on the need and workload. We are careful about preventing hardships to the migrant workers on our part,” said Khadka. Ministry officials said they were also coordinating with the Department of Immigration (DoI) to ensure easy access through TIA immigration for the workers.

Meanwhile, DoI spokesperson Kamal Bhattarai denied that departing workers had been obstructed at immigration. He said that immigration had stopped only 20 officials as they were not carrying the required documents.

“What appeared in the media has been exaggerated. Fewer workers are getting through immigration because the DoFE has been issuing fewer work approvals,” he said. Manpower officials claimed that some 375 workers had been barred by immigration in the last few days while immigration sources believe the number could be as high as 500.

Published on: 30 August 2013 | The Kathmandu Post