Team Herald
PORVORIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday told the State Legislative Assembly that the government cannot force any industry to employ Goans, however, with the incentives Goa offers, industry will soon find employing locals profitable.
Parrikar was replying to a question tabled by Congress MLA Antonio (Tony) Fernandes, who sought to know whether the government has any mechanism in place to ensure that industries provide 80 per cent jobs to the locals, which is a mandatory provision.
“As the economic situation of Goans has changed over the years, in many fields, they (Goans) are not ready to work. For example, we find difficulty in getting specialised Goan nurses to work in cardiac unit or you will find hardly 10 percent locals employed on fishing trawlers. Our demands have changed with change in the economic situation,” the Chief Minister said.
“I can’t force industries to employ Goans because each job warrants a set skill. If that skill is not available locally, then they have to depend on the workforce from outside,” Parrikar, who holds the Industries portfolio, said.
While the opposition benches tried to corner the State government over its failure to provide employment in the private sector to locals, the Chief Minister said that industries employing locals have been given handsome incentives.
“Those who keep Goans on job, we are giving them huge subsidy. Information Technology (IT) policy has been floated which provides up to 80 per cent subsidy if the unit employs locals,” Parrikar said. “With such incentives, soon industries will find that employing Goans is more profitable for them,” he added.
When Congress MLAs pointed out that the government does not have the data of the exact number of Goans employed in various industries, the Chief Minister admitted this and
informed the House that in future it would be available as the government has set up an online procedure for the industries before they go for fresh employment. He also said that data will be also known at a time, when industries opt for subsidy.
In a written reply tabled on the floor of the House, Parrikar said that 885 industries under micro, small and medium manufacturing enterprises and small manufacturing enterprise have been set up from March 2015 with a proposed employment of 9,165 persons.
“Goa Investment Promotion and Facilitation Board (IPB) has approved 15 new industries with proposed employment of 886 persons,” he added. Parrikar also said that another 27 expansion projects have been in place with total employment potential of 1660.
Participating in the discussion, Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavalekar questioned whether IPB grants permissions to any industry like small, medium and large and is there any feasibility inspection of the site conducted before granting permission.
Parrikar said IPB deals with only medium and large scale industries and it has appointed KPMG to undertake scrutiny of every application to see whether it fits under IPB provisions. “Once, KPMG clears it, the proposal is placed before the Board for final decision,” he added.
