Skills dearth in Amaravati

Amaravati: There is no qualified local staff available in Amaravati capital and surrounding districts to capture available jobs or employment opportunities. According to Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) sources, nearly one lakh people are living in the 29 villages under the purview of Amaravati capital out of which only 20 per cent are working in either private, government or self-business establishments.

Even the two private education universities have started classes and operations in Amaravati capital location but all the teaching staff belongs to either outside states or from abroad.

The institutions prefer only PhD candidates for teaching vacancies. On the other hand, piquantly the agriculture workers who lost their farming activity after banning of cultivation are reluctant to switch over to the construction works.

A survey says, majority of opportunities would be available in the capital area only in construction sector and prospects would be bright in next three years. Vattikuti Venkateswara Rao, native of Tulluru village said that earlier agriculture workers always used to take part in construction works. When there is no farming activity, the agriculture workers are spending their time using government pension and getting food items under public distribution system, he observed.

Moreover, the hotel industry and tourism sectors, which are main employment generators, but lack in communication skill is main setback for locals. Even the Skill Development Corporation is working to hone the skills but it is impossible to overcome it in a short span of time, a CRDA official said. He said majority of local people have qualifications only to handle Group-IV cadre typing jobs.

The CRDA officials have analysed total economic structure and availability of future opportunities to locals based on the capital city. Especially the construction and infra sectors only can provide a large scale of employment opportunities in the next three years. But the situation has already forced the infra companies to import workers from other states.

The infrastructure companies could shift their employees from other states for the interim secretariat works. The same scene is likely to repeat in near future, he said on condition of anonymity.

However, the CRDA has identified some other alternative plans to overcome the situation by encouraging business ventures. Recently the CRDA has opened a App with farmers, those could create global opportunities. The CRDA has plans to give training on this, he said.

By Patibandla Srinivas