Job mela in Kandhamal dist a big success

Date : 28th December 2009
BHUBANESWAR: The district administration of the trouble-torn Kandhamal has taken the initiative to provide employment opportunities to unemployed youth as part of its social responsibility.

Organising a first-ever job mela in the district headquarters on the Christmas-eve, the administration identified over 2,000 unemployed youth for job-linked training programmes.

Bangalore-based Raxa Security Agency, a subsidiary of GMR group, recruited 40 persons at the job mela (employment fair) on a monthly salary of Rs 6,500, Kandhamal district collector Krishen Kumar told this paper.

While a first batch of 270 youths from the district are undergoing a three-month training programme at the Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC) here from October, 600 more have been selected for the training programme.

The second batch will join the training course in January, he said.

As two more ATDC centres are coming up at Berhampur and Rourkela, arrangements are being made with the new centres for skill upgradation and capacity building of the interested youth of the district. The training cost of the selected youth is covered under the Sampoorn Gramin Rojgar Yojana (SGSY), a self-employment scheme of the Centre.

More and more youth are keen on the training programme as employment is guaranteed after the training, Kumar said.

Another 64 youths have been selected for training at the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) training centre at Hinjilikatu in Ganjam district. IL&FS, a leading infrastructure and finance company, is going to set up its second training centre in Phulbani.

Kumar said that 540 persons have been identified for livelihood training programme imparted by IL&FS.

The Bangalore-based Construction Skill Training Institute (CSTI), a concern of engineering and construction giant Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and National Academy of Construction, Hyderabad, have offered to provide training in masonry, plumbing, carpentry, electrical wiring and related trades in the construction business.

The two training institutes will provide three months training for which 600 youths have been identified. The two institutes have also assured job guarantee to the trained persons.

Kumar said job mela will be organised every quarter to facilitate employment opportunities for the unemployed of the district. As registration at the employment exchanges is almost nil, efforts will be made to register unemployed youth at panchayat level, he added.