PANAJI
The controversial issue of ensuring jobs for locals in private industry figured prominently in the discussion on the demands for grants to the Industries department in the Goa legislative assembly on Tuesday with several legislators urging the government to ensure a mechanism is evolved.
Poriem MLA Deviya Rane set the ball rolling with her demand that preference be given to locals for jobs whenever new industry is set up in the State.
"Our youth are educated. They are ready to work in private firms and are not hankering only for government jobs. But they want regular jobs. The private industries are only giving contracts," Rane said, adding that educated and qualified locals must be accommodated by these industries setting up shop in Goa.
She said, there are several large units of multinational companies in Honda and Usgao which have to give employment benefit to the local youth.
Several other MLAs also raised this issue and urged the government to come up with some mechanism by which the jobs created in the industrial sector can be taken up by locals.
Goa Forward Party's Vijai Sardesai, who had moved a cut motion to the demands censured the government for failing to take up any study on the employment generation of new industries coming up in the State.
He also questioned declining allocations in the budget for various sub-heads under the industries ministry which he said indicated lack of interest in the government to promote industry and tap employment potential in the private sector.
Sardesai also alleged several scams related to transfer of land by companies. He charged that there was a huge multi-crore scam in the matter of the land which had been allocated to the now defunct Meta Strips Ltd unit in Sancoale.
The company has taken an over Rs 400-crore loan from financial institutions by raising mortgage on the property and failed to pay dues on this account to the Goa IDC to the tune of nearly Rs 24 crores and demanded an inquiry.
Congress MLAs Yuri Alemao and Altone D'Costa censured the government for turning a blind eye to indiscriminate violation of pollution control laws by industries which was causing hardship and affecting the health of people residing around the Cuncolim industrial estate.
Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Velim MLA, Cruz Silva demanded that Goa IDC make a provision for smaller plots at the Margao industrial estate located at St Jose de Areal.
Silva claimed that the current plots of minimum 650 square metres size is beyond the reach of local educated and qualified youth who are mostly from the ST community and intend to start some venture of their own.
