Aizawl cops scan employment agency

Aizawl, Feb 1 (UNI) Mizo Manpower Supplier, an Aizawl-based employment agency, is under the scanner of the Aizawl police after being reported of operating with a false licence.

Acting on an FIR submitted by a state labour officer, Aizawl police is scanning Aizawl-based labour agency Mizo Manpower Supplier.

Despite the agency's claims that it has been licensed by the ministry of labour, the labour officer became suspicious because he had been informed by the ministry that the agencies providing jobs abroad have been placed under the purview of the Ministry of Overseas India Affairs.

With the increasing menace of human trafficking through offering of jobs abroad, rights activists here also emphasised the need to be cautious as Mizoram was vulnerable to human trafficking.

The fact that most of the jobs offered are applicable for female, and even uneducated, also raised suspicion because 90 per cent of human trafficking victims are women and children, said C Lalremruata, coordinator of Aizawl-based Human Rights&Law Network's human trafficking cell.

He also cautioned that most of the destinations offered by labour agencies were to places like the Gulf countries, Syria, Thailand and Malaysia among others.

When contacted at her office yesterday, agency proprietor Helen Lalhmingsangi, however, reassured that her agency is legitimate.

''There is no reason to doubt my agency's license. I got it from the union labour ministry way back in 2003. It was transferred to the overseas ministry and got renewed after three years as per the rules,'' she said.

Helen, however, refused to disclose how many youths have been recruited through her agency since it got the license in 2003. She also said she was considering shifting base if government interference continued.

UNI ZS BA SY DB1341