Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government is aware that most of the unemployed youth, workers, etc. including women hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other States are being cheated by the fake agents on the promise of getting job in Gulf Countries; and
(b) if so, the details thereof and the steps proposed to be taken by the Government to stop recurrence of such incidents?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
[GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]
(a) Yes.
(b) The Government has been receiving, from time to time, complaints/ grievances from emigrants and their family members/relatives of being cheated by illegal agents. Such complaints are forwarded to concerned State Governments and police authorities urging them to apprehend illegal agents and prosecute them on the basis of complaints. Wherever required such complaints are also referred to Mission/Post abroad for providing relief.
As per the available records, the number of complaints against unregistered agents received and referred to the State Governments from the year 2011 onwards are as under:
Year No. of Complaints Cases referred to State Govt for action Prosecution Sanction sought Prosecution sanction issued
2011 225 225 9 9
2012 254 240 16 16
2013 272 261 05 05
2014 170 153 08 08
2015 195 101 11 11
2016 (Upto 30 Sep.) 180 171 32 32
Government has also issued Standard Operating Procedure on 26th May, 2016 to be followed by States on receipt of complaints. Visual and print media campaign are also launched from time to time besides engaging various NGOs encouraging people to use the services of Registered Recruiting Agents and not to go through Illegal/Fake Agents. Every month the list of illegal agents reported to the Government from the Overseas Workers Resources Centre (OWRC) are sent to the State Governments for launching investigation and prosecution. These measures are expected to reduce the activity of illegal recruitment in the States/UTs.