International job fair turns ugly

The International job fair that opened Saturday morning at the Birendra International Convention Centre in Naya Baneshwor, Kathmandu, had to be cancelled abruptly as hundreds of youths who had turned up at the fair began angry protests, accusing the organisers of fraud.

Following the dispute, the youths started chanting slogans against the organisers and vandalised some of the stalls.

Some agitators complained of being denied entry inside the venue despite showing the tickets while others claimed that the organisers asked for as much as 80 thousand rupees for trainings to become qualified for the jobs and even refused to accept the academic credentials of undergraduates. In the advertisements, the organisers had set 10+2 as the minimum qualification for the jobs on offer.

The agitators burned tyres on the road and blocked traffic. Baneshwor area remained tense for more than two hours due to clashes between the police and the agitators. Police resorted to baton-charging and used teargas shells to control the crowd.

The agitators even pelted stones at the Kantipur Publications at Teenkune, charging Kantipur daily as being one of the media partners of the event. Police managed to evacuate the protesters before they could cause any damage to the publishing house.

Minister for Labour and Transport Management Ramesh Lekhak had inaugurated the three-day job fair earlier this morning.

Participated by a dozen multinational companies, the job fair would provide on-spot jobs to as many as 2000 aspirants. The fair was being jointly organised by High Level Committee on Information and Technology, New Horizons Nepal and Timesjobs.com in association with Convergys.

Meanwhile, the organisers have said the ticket fare would be refunded as the job fair has been cancelled for now. It is learnt that nearly 50,000 tickets worth Rs.100 each had already been sold.

http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/jan/jan12/news08.php