The fund was created two years back to be spent for the welfare and relief of Nepali overseas workers, compensation to families of deceased workers as well as exploration of new employment opportunities for Nepalis in the international market and promotion of awareness about foreign employment issues. [break]
A member of the board told myrepublica.com that over Rs 830,000 from the fund has been spent on furnishing Minister Alam´s chamber at the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM) and for fuel and maintenance for his vehicles.
“Minister Alam had got the board to take a decision to sanction Rs 250,000 for furnishing his chamber, Rs 291,000 for fuel and Rs 286000 for vehicle maintenance despite resistance by some members of the board,” said the member.
The fund has also been misused for undertaking meaningless foreign trips purportedly for exploring labor markets for Nepali workers.
Over the last two years, a jumbo delegation including ministers, officials of MoLTM and board members have visited more than half a dozen countries including Israel, Japan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, with the expenditures met from the fund.
“The board has decided to provide expenses for fuel, furnishing expenses and maintenance of vehicles for Minister Alam in his capacity as chairman of the board. What could I do when a majority of board members agreed to provide those expenses,” said Sthaneshwore Devkota, executive director of the board.
Devkota, who is also member-secretary of the board, claimed that the costs of foreign trips by the delegation were met as the cabinet had approved the trips. The board chaired by the labor minister includes representatives from MoLTM, the Foreign Ministry, Law Ministry, Finance Ministry, Nepal Rastra Bank, trade unions, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and experts.
Since the establishment of the fund in July 2008, around Rs 540 million has been collected through the contribution of overseas job seekers, interest from the amount deposited by manpower agencies, and manpower registration and renewal fees.
Each foreign job seeker contributes Rs 1,000 to the fund.
Sums of Rs 220.03 million and Rs 320 million including bank interest were raised for the fund during the fiscal years 2007/08 and 2008/09 respectively. after deducting the total expenditure of Rs 84.5 million, the board has a balance of Rs 453.8 million.
Amid complaints about misuse of the fund, the Prime Minister´s Office (PMO) sought details from the board on Tuesday about the sources of the fund and justification for the expenditures.
“We responded to the PMO on Wednesday with details of income and expenditure from the fund,” said Devkota.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
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