Mumbai: Around 22,000 workers from the skill-development centres in the state have been unemployed for the last two years as the state has not allocated funds to these centres in this period. There are a total of 7,500 centres registered in Maharashtra, of which only 2,322 are working. But the government has not paid them their dues since 2012.
The skill development programme is a flagship programme of the government but the ground reality completely contradicts claims.
The members of its parent body, the Maharashtra Rajya Kaushalya Vikas Manch (MRKVM), are sitting on dharna at Azad Maidan, pressing for their demands.
The union government had launched skill development programme as one of its ambitious project. The aim was to have 4.5 crore skilled youth by 2022. However, the data with MRKVM indicates that only 1.32 lakh youths have cleared the programmes in these three years.
The reason for the small number of skilled youth is due to the manner in which the scheme has been implemented.
“The state government is not clearing licences on time. On the other hand, almost 2,100 centres out of the working 2,322 have not received their payments in these years,” said Tejas Chavn from Latur, who runs one of the centres.
“On an average, every centre has 10 employees. But now they are jobless. The owners had invested a minimum of Rs 5 lakh in establishing these centres by taking loans from banks. Now they are becoming defaulters,” said Sukhada Alandkar, a centre owner.
“The government is busy issuing advertisement but the ground situation is grim. The scheme is a complete flop. We made the mistake of establishing this centre by listening to leaders’ speeches,” said Sunil Thigale, general secretary of MRKVM.
