Kick-starting a slew of youth-oriented initiatives, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday digitally laid the foundation stone of a permanent C-PYTE camp to train youth for military service. Besides, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the seventh state-level job fair and launched a free online coaching for government recruitment exams, along with ‘Mera Kaam Mera Maan’ scheme.
The foundation stone of the permanent camp of C-PYTE at Asal Uttar in Tarn Taran district to commemorate the bravery of Company Quarter Master Havaldar Abdul Hamid PVC and to provide training to the youth of Punjab for selection in Military and Paramilitary Forces.
The Chief Minister also inaugurated the seventh State level Mega Rozgar Mela with a target to fill 2.5 lakhs vacancies across Punjab and launched free online coaching for Government recruitment exams apart from rolling out the ‘Mera Kaam Mera Maan’ scheme to provide employment assistance allowance Rs 2,500 per month to workers and wards of workers registered under Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Welfare Board.
The Chief Minister emphasized the aspect of technology as a pre-requisite for finding a job as per requirements of the industrial sector, hence the free skill training initiative with a view to prepare the youth for job market.
A new Armed Forces Preparatory Institute Sardar Bahadur Amin Chand Soni Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (SBACS-AFPI) is being established at Bajwara, Hoshiarpur, at a cost of Rs 26.96 crores for preparing youth of Punjab to compete and qualify in CDSE/AFCAT, the Chief Minister said.
Dwelling on the employment facilitation for youth, the Chief Minister said that the Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Department over the past four years has been catering to an average of 1,200 candidates every day for facilitating them in job opportunities.
Keeping the same in mind, a ‘Job Helpline Centre’ has been established as one stop platform to answer queries regarding Government or private placement opportunities, career counselling, self-employment ventures, foreign study or placement counselling and skill development training, said Capt Amarinder adding that ‘Mission Red Sky’ had been started to facilitate employment opportunities either directly or post skilling to addicts or victims undergoing treatment at OOAT centres of Punjab.
Till date, 11,658 unemployed reformed addicts have been identified and 2,203 have begun skill training under Punjab Skill Development Mission (PSDM).
Further, for Persons with Disabilities (PwD), the Mission administers special training programmes that have trained 430 and placed 90 PwD candidates.
Notably, 10 poorest of poor unemployed candidates of each village have been identified and provided employment facilitation. As a result, 1,11,529 candidates have become self-reliant and 13,720 have been sponsored for skill training.
The state Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, thanking the Chief Minister, said that the C-PYTE Centre would come up in 8.5 acres of land at a cost of Rs five crore in the first phase.
He also apprised that the free online coaching of the first batch of 11,000 Government job aspirants would start today besides the job fairs which would be held across the State till September 17 at 84 places all across Punjab.
Under its Ghar Ghar Rozgar initiative, the State Government has set up 22 state of the art District Bureaus of Employment and Enterprises (DBEEs), said Channi.