KATHMANDU, Aug 17: Number of cases filed at the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) seeking reimbursement from unscrupulous manpower agencies has increased of late.

A total of 250 cases have been registered at the department in the past month alone, said Mohan Adhikari, spokesperson at the department.

“The number of complaints was significantly less as 181 complaints were registered in a month on average during the last fiscal year,” he added.

“A majority of fraud cases filed against manpower agencies are about the workers' relocation, particular type of promised work, company and salary being different than mentioned in the contract here in Nepal,” Adhikari told Republica.

More complaints have been received from Saudi Arabia regarding transfer of company without prior notice to the migrant workers, according to Adhikari. He said that the department received at least seven complaints in the last week alone from Saudi Arabia.

“The department will seriously study all the complaints by migrant workers and take necessary actions,” Adhikari said.

DoEF had received a total of 2,172 complaints related to fraud cases in the last fiscal year. Out of the total complaints lodged at the department, it had cleared 520 complaints lodged by migrant workers while as many as 226 cases were forwarded to the court.

Lack of knowledge on safe migration for work, poor knowledge of language, lack of training, inability to check the reliability of agencies can be attributed to the rising number of fraud cases, the department said.

 
• department of foreign employment
 
• migrant workers
 
• complaints
 
• unscrupulous manpower agencies