Rohan Gurung, general secretary of the Nepalese Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (Nafea), made the observation while speaking to Gulf Times on Nepalese men seeking jobs in the GCC states and steps taken by the authorities in his country to ensure the security and welfare of such workers.
Asked about the demand for workers in the Gulf countries, he said: “There is still a large demand for manual labourers from the Gulf countries. Qatar and the UAE are the two most preferred destinations.”
The hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and implementation of ambitious projects as part of Qatar National Vision 2030 are also attracting Nepalese workers to the country, he observed.
There are some 756 registered manpower agencies in Nepal whose task is to assist people who aspire to go to the Gulf or East Asia for employment. Besides being a senior office-bearer of Nafea, Gurung also owns Top Jobs Overseas, a manpower agency. He had worked in Japan for almost a decade before opening his agency in capital Kathmandu in 2005.
He advised young Nepalese looking for jobs in Qatar and the other Gulf countries to learn more about the laws, rules and regulations, religion and culture of the destination country. “I would like them to be mentally prepared. I request all to approach a registered manpower agency and not to deal with middlemen.”
Gurung said the biggest problem faced by rural job-seekers in Nepal was the exploitation by middlemen, who charge hundreds of thousands of rupees for taking them to a registered agency in the capital. “They trust the agents or middlemen from their locality and, in turn, pay them large sums (as fee for facilitating the recruitment). Registered manpower agencies do not charge heavy sums from aspiring workers for recruitment,” he observed.
The official further clarified that manpower agencies in Nepal collect only service fees from candidates and that too when such fee is not paid by the employer in the destination country.
He also pointed out that most of the Qatari employers provide free visas and tickets to workers, but "it is being heard that the HR managers of some companies ask for bribes" from agencies in Nepal.
Highlighting the steps taken by the Nepal authorities to ensure the security and welfare of workers employed abroad, Gurung said the government has a compensation scheme which pays up to 1.4mn rupees to the families of workers who lose their lives, disappear or are disabled while working in any foreign company.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the number of Nepalese who have left the country to undertake jobs in Gulf countries has dropped to around 800-900 this August as compared to 1300 during the same period last year.
Rohan Gurung says the biggest problem faced by rural job-seekers in Nepal was the exploitation by middlemen.
Qatar is like a second home for Nepalese workers and their most preferred job destination among GCC countries, an official of an umbrella organisation of manpower agencies in Nepal has said.
