Employment offices not online even after 17 yrs

Kolkata, Oct 29: The IT savyy West Bengal government has failed to computerise 41 state employment exchanges even after 17 years and spending Rs seven crore in the process.

Labour department sources said about 17 years back,the department launched the ambitious project of computerising at least 41 of its 71 employment exchanges. The project received funding from the Centre.

A computerised placement system still eludes the state's staggering 7.5 million registered educated unemployed in a state, which boasts to be one of the thriving IT destinations of the country.

A CAG audit inquiry later found that the entire effort flopped as the expenses did not help start the process of keeping the online records of the unemployed and the employer-company data.

The CAG, in its 2005 report, pointed out that the delay was due to installation of hardware and software, obsolete technology, interruption in the data entry job and non-payment of money to the vendor for the annual maintenance contract.

State Labour department Principal Secretary Subesh Das refused to comment on the delay of computerisation. However, he admitted that the exchanges have failed to create the requisite transparency but did not comment on the delay.

He said he was evolving a new system where the names of all the eligible candidates would be forwarded to the prospective employer.

Instead of the employment exchange, the employer would shortlist the names.

Meanwhile, labour department sources said a plan is afoot to cut down the number of exchanges from 71 to a more manageable size.

UNI