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| Kathmandu, Wednesday February 12, 2003 Magh 29, 2059. |
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Restructuring of EPC proposed
By Sameer Ghimire
KATHMANDU, Feb 11:A high level ministerial
committee has proposed the government to restructure Employment Promotion Commission (EPC)
into a complete policy making body in lieu of an executing agency.
The restructuring of the EPC was proposed
following the growing disputes between the Commission and the Ministry as the latter felt
that its jurisdiction was being narrowed by the functioning of the EPC as both the
entities were doing the same job.
"We have recommended the government to
restructuring the EPC in order to make it more effective body for promoting both the
domestic and foreign employment through policy-making," said a member of the
committee, preferring to be unnamed.
The committee coordinated by Lalit Bahadur
Thapa, Director General of Department of Labour and Employment Promotion (DLEP) was formed
by the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management (LMTM) recently.
The recommendation has come at a time when
the Commission has been facing criticism largely due to its failure in achieving its
objectives. The EPC, which was entrusted by the government of supplying 1,00,000 Nepali
youths to foreign employment, has not supplied even a single Nepali individual yet.
The source further said that the EPC has
interfered with the vital activities of the ministry like identification of labour market,
initiating skill development training to labours, orientation on industrial development
among others. Therefore, the committee has strongly asked the government for an immediate
restructuring of the Commission.
"The present dispute between the two
parties and duplication of works will be minimised once the implementing authority vested
with the Commission is curtailed," added the source.
The committee has expressed disappointment
over the government’s decision on allowing the EPC to provide labour-training as the
Ministry is also providing similar training through its sixteen training centres. Besides,
the delegation of authority to the EPC to promote foreign employment and establishment of
Labour Market Information Centre in the Commission has further confined the
Ministry’s working area, said the source.
Likewise, the much-hyped Medical
Transcription (MT) training to 1500 youths was also mired into controversy when Unlimited
Numedia, the contracting party responsible for employing the successful trainees after a
10-month training, suspended training in the final stage as the commission blocked payment
to Unlimited Numedia. The training has resumed.
The committee has also drawn the attention of
the government towards budget allocation as both the Ministry and the EPC have been
appropriated almost similar amount of budget.
The new roles, that the EPC has been suggested
for, by the high level committee include projection and search of foreign markets for
Nepali labours, making necessary recommendations on the domestic labour market among
others. The committee has urged the government to strictly impose restriction on the
Commission on any labour-training.
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