NEW DELHI: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh has asked the authorities of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC) to ensure employing only local youth in the recently launched and centrally funded power projects in Jammu & Kashmir.Non-local youth should be engaged only in situations where a suitable or eligible candidate is not available locally for a particular job, he said.In a meeting with Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) NHPC, A K Singh who called on him to give a brief about the status of various power projects in the Union Territory, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that he had recently been on a two-day visit to Kishtwar which is going to be the hub of at least five major new power projects namely Pakal Dul, Kiru, upcoming Kewar, Dul Hasti-II and revived Ratle. He said, a common expectation among the youth is that they should be given priority in getting employment in these projects.He said, he had also directed the District Administration of Kishtwar to coordinate with the management of these projects and the Companies engaged in these projects, in order to make sure that the local youth should not have grievance that they were being ignored for job avenues.Dr. Jitendra Singh made it clear that besides contributing to development and adequate power generation for the region, one of the mandates of all such projects is to generate employment and livelihood opportunities locally. He said, he had clearly emphasized that all the unskilled jobs should be provided to the locals, while for skilled or technical jobs, a non-local candidate should be hired only in a situation when a local candidate is not available with the required qualification.At the same time, there should be absolute transparency in making appointments to these jobs, without any extraneous considerations whatsoever, he added.CMD A K Singh informed Dr. Jitendra Singh that in Pakal Dul and Kiru, so far roughly over 1800 local youths have been provided employment directly or indirectly through the various companies working over there. For specialized jobs, however, he said, a small percentage of manpower from outside may be required in order to ensure efficiency in work. The CMD also informed the Minister that the NHPC authorities are keeping the Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar, A K Sharma in the loop.The Minister was further informed that as for the Pakal Dul Project, all the Contract Packages stand awarded and work has started on all fronts. The Kiru Project took off later, but there also all the Contract Packages stand awarded and the work has started. However, the Kawar Project is expected to start soon.CMD also gave an update about other power projects for Jammu & Kashmir including Uri Stage-II, Kirthai-II and Sawalkot.
