BENGALURU: The Protector of Emigrants (PoE), Bengaluru, in a pilot move has launched a ‘One Hour Initiative’ in Karnataka and Goa, where any query or grievance regarding migrant workers, who are stranded overseas or have been cheated by illegal overseas recruitment agencies, will receive a response in one hour from the PoE’s office. Complaints can be sent to poebengaluru@mea.gov.in Speaking to The New Indian Express, Shubham Singh, PoE, said that the objective was to speed up the response time for the affected migrant workers, who are abroad or wish to go abroad. “Our effort is to issue the first response to any query or complaint within one hour of receiving it on our mail ID or through official channels,” said Singh.
There are 21 registered overseas recruitment agencies in Karnataka, the names of which can be found at the emigrate. gov.in In August this year, the PoE had written to all the district police chiefs in Karnataka alerting them about 50 overseas recruitment agents/agencies, which were luring gullible people. “We are investigating around 280 such fraudulent agencies in Karnataka,” said Singh. The PoE has written to the Department of Information and Public Relations requesting them to inform the media houses to verify the credentials of overseas recruitment agencies, which wish to advertise with them.
“The media publications can write to us before publishing any recruitment-related advertisement to check the genuineness of the agent and we will respond in one hour’s time. We have also requested hotels and lodges, where interviews are conducted, to write to us before giving their space for recruitment- related activity and we would get back to them verifying the credentials of the company in one hour.
A similar request has been placed before the designated hospitals, where the medical checkups are conducted for visa purposes,” said Singh. The PoE has been reaching out to migrant workers, who are stranded abroad with their compensation and travel back to the country through Indian missions abroad. It has requested the police to spread awareness among the residents in their jurisdiction on the registered foreign recruitment agencies for overseas employment.