October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required skills.

The company sent the 31-year-old Sherpa back to Nepal last month after he could not do the carpentry work properly. Now he has been making rounds of the Department of Foreign Employment and other agencies demanding compensation for the expenses incurred while going to Qatar.

Claiming that he had to return back because the manpower company did not clearly mention the job description before leaving for Qatar, Sherpa is demanding compensation of Rs 100,000 from the manpower company.

"Before leaving abroad, the manpower company told me that the work was to load and unload wood in the furniture industry. However, after reaching Qatar, I learnt that the work was related to  carpentry."

Sherpa, who has no carpentry skills, returned home disappointed after the company told him that he was not qualified for the hob. Sherpa, who took loans before going abroad, said that he has to auction his house if the manpower company does not return his money.

Similarly, Krishna Khatri from Morang, Urlabari, had planned to earn good money and build a new house by going abroad for foreign employment. However, his foreign employment journey also ended within one month.

Khatri, who was sent to Malaysia for a light driving job, said that he was made to drive a heavy vehicle there.

"If he had learned the necessary skills before heading for foreign employment, he would not have had to end up becoming jobless, and his investment wouldn't have gone down the drains," he told New Business Age. Now he is making claims to get back Rs 55,000 from the concerned manpower company.

In recent days, as the number of people going for jobs abroad is increasing, the risk of landing in foreign countries without skill has increased. This has increased the chances of investment being lost.

Many suffer losses eventually because they show little interest to acquire skills despite repeated requests from the government agencies.