Manpower-starved industry junks govt’s NOC proposal

PANAJI: The state industry has rejected government’s proposal on making  compulsory for companies to get no-objection certificate from the department of labour and employment for participating in job fairs outside the state.

Owners of several industrial units told ‘The Navhind Times’ on Monday  that the proposal is not practical as the industry faces a shortage of manpower, and there are not enough locals to meet the demand of the industry.

They pointed out that  most of  the Goan unemployed youth want only government jobs and do not favour working in private sector.

An official from the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry said  the policy of 80 per cent employment to locals looks good on paper but difficult to adhere to.

“Goans are not to take up all the jobs in the private sector…  it is difficult to find locals  with certain skills like those needed to be    fitters, machinists and other hands  well-versed in  technical knowhow,” the GCCI official said.

He added that instead of making it mandatory for companies to get NOC, the government must concentrate on skilling the local youth. An industrial  unit owner, who participated in several local job fairs and also the contentious job fair in Sawantwadi, said that he received very poor response from applicants.

“I received 28 letters from applicants in the last job fair of which only two turned up for the interview. The other 26 applicants did not turn up and they did not bother to give the reason for rejecting the offer.”

On the contrary, he said,  he received 100 applications at the Sawantwadi  job fair, of which 80 applicants turned up for interview.

Goa Small Industries Association president Raj Kumar Kamat said that he is against the requirement  of NOC because it is “not likely to come in quickly”.

He said that decision-making needs to be speedy and the labour department needs to work out the HR connect quickly by striking off the job seekers from the employment exchange register if they are not interested in the offer.

“The youth who repeatedly reject industry openings must not be recommended again by the exchange,” he said.

According to Goa Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association  president  Sanjay Priolkar, the Goan pharmaceutical industry faces acute shortage  of workers  at all levels.

Furthermore, as Goans are not willing to work in shifts the industry is forced to employ outsiders.

“Almost all functions – be it production, packing, quality control, etc –  are in shifts,” he explained.

Priolkar added that in current scenario the employment exchange is losing its relevance in giving jobs.

“It was a very important entity 20 years back but today the exchange has become  just a formality. The industry hardly finds the exchange useful in meeting its manpower requirements,” Priolkar observed.

After about 28 companies from cross-sections of the state industry recently participated in the Sawantwadi  job fair,  the Labour Minister had said the industry should refrain from doing so in future.

He had said the government was mulling over a policy wherein companies would have to submit their job requirements to the employment exchange and also obtain  a NOC before taking part in outside fairs.

However, the industrial unit owners have said the proposal is non-workable as the candidates who are on the exchange are waiting for government jobs and use private jobs as “stop-gap arrangement”.

The government has issued show-cause notices to 22 companies for participating in the Sawantwadi job fair. Companies have been given seven days to reply to the show-cause notice.