Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today directed the Skill Development Mission to complete the entire construction work of five upcoming Multi Skill Development Centers (MSDCs) at Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda positively by the end of June so as to enable these centres to begin their maiden skill training session from coming July.Presiding over a meeting here at Chief Minister’s Residence on Tuesday evening, the Chief Minister asked the Punjab Skill Development Mission, which had been entrusted to run these centres to tie up with the eminent companies and industrial groups to rope in them as training partners to provide the best skill training to the youth according to the needs of the local industry. The Chief Minister also emphasized the need to solicit the services of local industrialists and manufacturers to devise special courses to impart skill training so that they could be gainfully employed in the nearby industry.
The Chief Minister was apprised that nearly 1500 to 2000 students would be imparted skill training in these five centres every year. These centres were being built at a cost of Rs.60 crore and have been provided with hostel facility, where 500 students could be accommodated. The officers in the meeting assured the Chief Minister that the construction work of these skill centres at Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda would be completed by 31st May and Ludhiana by 30th June. Mr. Badal also informed that the training partners for Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda centres had been selected while these would be selected shortly for Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur.Mr. Badal also asked the skill development mission to immediately initiate the work for setting up 200 skill development centres in rural areas within each block of the state. It was informed in the meeting that out of these 200 skill centres, approximately 1/3 centres were being set up for rural girls in co-educational senior secondary/high schools or exclusively girls schools which would be named ‘Nanhi Chhan Skill Centres’. The main focus was to enable the poor rural youth including rural girls to set up self employment ventures or for wage employment in private sector. All the Deputy Commissioners have already identified the sites and lay out plan/drawings have been prepared and finalized by the Chief Architect Punjab.
The Chief Minister asked the officers to launch a pro-active campaign to sensitize the youth and their parents about the significance and relevance of these ultra-modern centres. He also asked the officers to organize camps in schools regularly to create awareness amongst the students about skill development, who were keen to opt for these training courses.The Chief Minister also reviewed the progress of three skill development centres being set up in the Government Medical Colleges at Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot with cooperation of Health department. He asked the implementing agencies to accomplish this task at the earliest so that the skill training courses could be started without any further delay.Mr. Badal was also informed about the skill development centres in construction sector being set up at Mohali, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar would be completed by November 2016.Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Principal Secretary Technical Education Mr. M.P. Singh, Secretary Technical Education Mr. Rakesh Verma, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar, General Manager Punjab Skill Development Mission Mr. Gurwaryam Singh, Chief Engineer PWD (B&R) Mr. Ashok Goyal and Chief Architect Ms. Sapna.