The office of the Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 4: The Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation is going to impart training to unskilled labourers employed in the construction sector in the state to create skilled manpower.

The corporation will provide training to 400 youths. The training to make them skilled labourers will increase their employability and overcome the shortage of skilled labourers in this sector.

Satyajit Mohanty, chairman-cum-managing director of the corporation said that being a corporation, the organisation had signed a Memorandum of Interest (MoI) with the home department to carry out several government projects. According to the MoI, the corporation has for the first time started this corporate social responsibility activity to train unskilled labourers working in the construction sector.

“Ours is a corporation with expertise in construction of office and non-office buildings of the government. While carrying out our projects in the state, we found there was a huge lack of skilled manpower in this sector. We had to hire such skilled persons from outside the state. So, we have planned to start training people with low skills in this particular sector,” said Mohanty. He said the sector included masonry, temporary bending and wielding of rods, polishing and fixing tiles and other related works.

The corporation will spend Rs 25 lakh in the first phase. Mohanty said the corporation would tie up with institutes providing such training and with residential facilities. The courses would be of 45 days to three months according to the requirements.

The training will be not only for unskilled labourers, but for anyone who wants to be trained in these skills.

Mohanty said the training would not only make these people skilled but also increase their chances of getting employed. The shortage of such labourers would also be fulfilled in the state.

“Unskilled labourers get paid less. After this training they are sure to earn more. Besides, our corporation will employ these skilled labourers for our several ongoing projects in the state,” he said. Mohanty added that this programme would continue for the next five years and a pool of a large number of such skilled labourers would be created by that time.

The Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation had built the spectacular Commissionerate Police building in the state capital three years ago.

It has been involved in around 1,200 projects of the government all over the state. With an annual turnover of around Rs 350 crores, it is at present carrying out several projects of the Odisha police, its fire service wing, prisons and correctional services wing and judiciary buildings along with projects of the health and family welfare department, housing and urban development department and the sports and youth affairs department. It also carries out construction of several colleges in the state.