TURA: West Garo Hills district administration is looking for ways to provide employment to returnees, who were working outside but were forced to return to the district due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown.
West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh, on Wednesday, held a meeting with officials of different departments on ways to support, engage and provide gainful employment opportunities to those section of people who have returned from different parts of the country in view of the pandemic.
The meeting was held at DRDA conference hall in Tura to deliberate on matters relating to skill development, which was attended by district officials including the Deputy Labour Commissioner, District Employment Officer, District Mission Manager, MSRLS, District Development Manager, NABARD, Tura and related line departments attended.
During the meeting, the DC Singh suggested that the District Labour department and District Employment Exchange find out the details of returnees who were working outside and explore the possibilities of engaging them according to their skill and capacity since some of them have known to have excelled in their line of duty.
He then informed that women can be associated with National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) in the district and instructed them to find out what can be done for them while labourers, who came from outside, can be associated with National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in their respective blocks if job cards are issued to them.
Moreover, he informed that National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL), currently constructing the portion of NH-51 from Tura to Dalu road, has also agreed to provide skill training on the job for labourers.
The DC also informed that educated unemployed youths, who have registered their names through NRLM, are being provided training to operate Common Service Centres (CSCs), 83 of which are present in the district.
He added that a counselling centre and help desk for returnees have also been set up in the district.
Highlighting the availability of seasonal fruits in the region such as jackfruit, mango etc., the District Development Manager, NABARD, Tura, M Dkhar, said that setting up of small-scale industries and more processing units in the area could also help to address the problem of unemployment to some extent.
