Siliguri, May 10 :     Sikkim is all set to check the influx of job-seekers from outside the state amid plans to celebrate the silver jubilee of its merger with the Indian Union next week. A senior bureaucrat in chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling's office today said, 'The government is planning to make employment of Sikkimese mandatory for all outstation firms that intend to invest in the state.' Chamling also indicated this at a public function in Gangtok yesterday where he said he would make sure that the Sikkimese get all the jobs they deserve before signing a memorandum of understanding with the National Hydel Power Corporation on the Rs 2,200-crore Teesta power project. The officer said, 'The number of unemployed is going up fast in Sikkim. We want them to be absorbed by the NHPC and other companies who want to start new ventures here.' As part of Phase V of the Teesta project, the NHPC has already begun construction of staff quarters and approach roads to the project site in the Zongu area of north Sikkim. Among other major conditions are proper rehabilitation and compensation to people already or likely to be displaced because of construction work and allotment of 12 per cent of power to the state free of cost, he added. The project is expected to generate nearly 510 MW of power. The Sikkim government would also ask the NHPC to make sure that none of the employees, including labourers, stay back once the project is over. Five years ago, another ambitious hydel project over the Rathongchu river in west Sikkim was scrapped following protests from tribal Buddhists who feared that construction work there would threaten Norbugang, a site where the first Chogyal was consecrated in the 16th century. By the time the project was withdrawn, the Centre had already spent a few crores of rupees on it. Justifying the chief minister's stand on employment, the bureaucrat said, 'Our desire to safeguard the interests of the Sikkimese should not be misconstrued as a move against other fellow Indians.' Lately, a number of reputed firms attached to the tourist trade and software and electronic goods manufacturing and technical education have shown their willingness to start their ventures in the tiny state. For a long time, there has been a lurking fear among the Sikkimese that outsiders may swarm the state because of job opportunities offered by the new ventures. As one of the smallest states, Sikkim has a population of a little over four lakh people. The bulk of outstation people working in government and private concerns is from neighbouring Darjeeling. In a significant development, the Chamling government, which supports the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in Delhi, has decided to celebrate May 16, the day Sikkim became a part of India in 1975, in a big way. It has invited all surviving leaders who fought against the Chogyal in support of the former Himalayan kingdom's accession to the Indian Union in the early Seventies. Among them are two former chief ministers Kazi Lhendup Dorjee (the leader of the merger struggle) and B.B. Gurung, who is now political adviser to Chamling. The invitees will be honoured with shawls and citations at a function to be attended by Governor Choudhury Randhir Singh and Chamling. The day, also known as State Day, is a holiday in Sikkim.