Dharna went to the Ministry of Labor to find out about the human resources company

Kathmandu, June 24. Labour, Employment and Social Security Minister Dol Prasad Aryal reached the Foreign Employment Department office in Tahachal around 10:00 a.m. and spent two and a half hours.

His main reason for reaching the ministry was to publish a list of manpower companies that had sent details claiming they were sending workers abroad on free visa-free tickets.

On June 17, the foreign employment department directed all manpower companies to submit within 15 days details of how many workers they had sent abroad under the visa exemption scheme for workers in the 2080/81 financial year. Therefore, the deadline for sending the details has been kept.

Most manpower agencies do not send workers on visa-free tickets. The number of manpower that will send workers abroad without receiving money is limited.

Especially in Malaysia and the Gulf region, the HR companies only provide visa waiver tickets if there is a case of collecting money from workers by taking away the visa waiver tickets from US and European employer companies. Therefore, the department has received very little information so far.

But Labor Secretary Ayal personally went to the ministry to press for details from the visitors. Sources said some company bosses have been demanding that they be given a separate identity because they adopt a clean recruitment process and workers are not deceived. They believe that it will be easier to attract the demand for overseas workers through marketing after being recognized and rewarded by the government.

Officials said that since the visa exemption policy applies to all manpower companies, the government cannot single out companies that comply with the regulations for listing. Therefore, Labor Secretary Ayal directed the department to request the details so that they can be recorded in government documents when they are made public.

But in the meantime, there was a change in the government. The UML and the Congress agreed to form a new government. Therefore, the government was reduced to a minority after the UML withdrew its support. On June 28, the Prime Minister was ready to face a confidence vote in Parliament, but judging by the current balance sheet, he will be removed from office.

RSVP ministers, including Ayal, also left the ministerial palace as the government was about to fall. But Labor Minister Ayal kept asking the Foreign Employment Department to obtain a list of manpower companies that sent visa-free workers.

On Friday morning, after the staff did not provide the list, Minister Ayal himself went to the department, saying there was still time to submit the details. After the minister personally instructed to immediately bring out the list two and a half hours later, the department released a list of 14 manpower companies that sent workers at zero cost, without having to pay for visas and fees.

The list includes Good Alliance Overseas, FSI Worldwide Shoulder, Broadlink Overseas, Solo Asia Requirements, Wise International Nobel, Mitra Overseas, Sunkoshi Manpower Services, Navjeevan International, S. Gurkha Overseas, Titanic Manpower Suppliers, Reliance Manpower Solutions, Gurkha Overseas Services UK, Miracle Employment, NASA Manpower are some of these names. The department wrote below the details: “If the above licensed agencies accept money, also file a complaint with the department.” There is no study of the details sent by the manpower company or look at what it looks like in the past.
The workers accused some of the manpower companies on the list of fraud. But the protests began after the government, under pressure from the minister, suddenly listed them as manpower, offering free visas and free air tickets to the workers.

Human resources professionals called it suspicious. Rohan Gurung, former president of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employed Professionals, said there was no case of businessmen not providing visa-free tickets for workers.

He said the purpose of the department’s request for such details was unclear and said if the process was not completed, the preliminary and final ones would not be approved as the government appeared to have provided visa-free tickets since the implementation of the rules.

“The minister himself stood in Parliament and gave details of the N2 trillion NTD1.6 billion collected by businessmen from non-bank channels in the year when the VAT was not implemented,” he said. “It is obvious why the government asked businessmen for details when it knew that the policy was not being implemented. It did not happen.”

He also said that the Labour Minister showed a double character by personally going to the department to disclose such details. One should suspect that there is some vested interest in this list which was put forward by the Minister when the date for submitting the details was not over yet.”

The department’s spokesperson, Gurudatta Subedi, said the list was released to make people aware of the manpower that sends workers at zero cost. After coming up with a list of only 14 manpower companies, it was found that other manpower companies did not comply with the government’s policy, what will the department do with the others now? Responding to a question from a network news outlet, he said, “It is not like that, it is not only a list of companies that provide free visas and air tickets, but also a list of companies that do not charge service fees.”

The department has issued a statement regarding the information received by Minister Ayal, which, according to the department, mentioned that he was informed of the work of the office and issued instructions.

The Director General, Danduraj Ghimire, informed through a statement that during the inspection, Minister Ariel directed that work be carried out so that the service users are satisfied, coordination centres be organised, and renewal of the ongoing key power traders will only be renewed after the complaints are dealt with.

“Since there are instructions prohibiting non-legal professionals from entering the department as ID card staff, directors, legal advisers etc. for card renewal, registration, filing, cancellation etc., it has also been learnt that the department will make arrangements for entry into the department,” the statement said.