Minister Yadav Cites Manpower Shortage in Foreign Employment Fraud Control

Kathmandu. Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Ramji Yadav has stated that there is an extreme shortage of manpower in controlling fraud in the foreign employment sector.

Speaking at a meeting of the Industry, Commerce and Consumer Interest Protection Committee on Thursday, Minister Yadav admitted that it is difficult to conclude investigations into fraud cases on time due to the lack of necessary staff.

Presenting data from the Department of Foreign Employment, Minister Yadav informed that more than 40,000 fraud cases have been registered since 2064 BS. However, he stated that 27,000 of these cases have not been investigated and these files have not been effectively processed.

'Some of the 27,000 documents were destroyed during the Madhesh movement, while some are missing, which increases the possibility of these cases being shelved,' said Minister Yadav. He informed that only 13,000 cases are currently active in the department, and out of these, 8,000 cases have been digitized and investigation processes have been initiated.

He complained that although 10 investigation officers were requested according to the workload, the government has not provided them. According to Minister Yadav, the current Foreign Employment Act does not legally recognize illegal agents, which creates complexity in the prosecution process.

He claimed that in his 25-day tenure, he sent 328 individual complaints to the court and provided compensation of Rs 48 million to 443 victims during the same period. He also stated that the department is preparing to conduct 'surprise operations' to control fraud.

Narrating the plight of the workers, Minister Yadav said, 'In the interaction at the help desk, many workers come with papers for 10,000 rupees, but in reality, they have paid lakhs. They are forced to hide the fact that they have been defrauded due to the fear of losing their jobs.'

He informed that preparations are underway to integrate laws, regulations, directives, and procedures to end this systemic complexity and restructure the legal framework. He stated that taking the entire process of foreign employment to a digital system from the village to the airport is the main key to improvement.