President of the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) M.F. Marikkar said that an organised gang was behind the unrest at the J. R. Jayewardena Centre in Colombo recently where a section of the people who came for a Turkey job interview had acted violently.
Hundreds of job seekers had gathered at the centre following fake information published on social media that the Turkey jobs will be offered free.
Police were deployed to control the situation and one person was arrested.
Marikkar explained that the licensed foreign employment agent New Asian Travels had received a job order for 2.650 employees from Turkey.
Marikkar said that the approval of the Sri Lanka’s Embassy in Turkey and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) had been obtained.
This order for jobs includes recruitment of drivers and cleaners. He also said that they charge from selected persons for jobs Rs. 388,194 for a cleaner and Rs. 557,518 for a driver. He said that these are charges approved by the SLBFE.
The President of the Association said that anyhow, approval had been obtained from the SLBFE once the job order had come in and that approval for publishing advertisements regarding these jobs, too, had been obtained.
Subsequently, this agency had conducted three interviews at the Booker Hall, Maradana. It had been attended by over 1,500 persons and about 900 had been selected. Then they had sent two groups to Turkey.
When the fourth interview was being conducted, only a limited number of persons had shown up.
For the next interview, they had booked the J. R. Jayewardena Hall.
However, since there was a fake news item in certain social media that the jobs are offered free, a large crowd had turned up at the venue.
Also the relevant social media post had asked people to come to the Booker Hall in Maradana, and not to J.R.Jayewardena Centre, which clearly shows it was intended to mislead people. However, even those who came to Maradana had gone to Jayewardena Centre after hearing the interview is held there.
He said that the organisers of the interview had announced that only those who were willing to pay the bureau approved charges should remain. After the announcement, some of the people who were in the back had acted unruly and police had to be called-in.
Marikkar said that his organisation had informed Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara about the incident as well.
Marikkar also said that the incident had also upset the Turkish officials and if such things are allowed to happen, Sri Lanka may lose foreign job orders. He urged authorities to take action to prevent such happenings in future. He also said that if it was possible to send all these people abroad, it would mean that the country would receive large amounts of foreign exchange.
He said Sri Lanka expects about 10,000 jobs in Turkey this year and acts as one happened at the Jayewardena Centre may jeopardise future job prospects. Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies Secretary Mohammed Farook and Director of New Asia Travels Thaheer Jabbar were also present on this occasion.
