Int’l job fair takes violent turn in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU - New Baneshwor area in the capital became tense for hours in Saturday afternoon after hundreds of youths took to the streets, charging an international job fair, which was supported by the government agencies, with duping them in name of lucrative jobs overseas. Hundreds of youths had bought tickets each worth Rs 100 to attend the fair that had started at the BICC at New Baneshwor this morning.
But they said that the companies were offering low-end jobs, demanding at least a Bachelors’ Degree instead of 10+2 degree as mentioned earlier and also asking up to Rs 50,000 as training fees. The job fair inaugurated by Minister for Labour and Transport Management Ramesh Lekhak had promised some 1000 jobs, mostly in India and abroad.
The demonstrators vandalized the fair venue and burnt tyres and shouted slogans against the government, charging it with supporting the frauds. They are also demanding that the ticket fare be reimbursed. A group of people pelted also stones at the Kantipur Publications at Subidhanagar this afternoon after the Job Fair abruptly ended following the row.
The demonstrators attacked the Publications building, charging Kantipur as the media partner of the fair.
Kantipur Publications and many of the media organisations had carried the news about the job fair jointly organised by New Horizons Nepal, Timesjobs.com' and the High Level Commission for Information Technology in association with CONVERGYS. Some windows in the publications building were smashed in the attack.