Punjab Govt to impart skill development training to jail inmates

Chandigarh, Jul 22 (UNI) Punjab Government today formulated a scheme to impart skill development training to inmates of jails in the state, providing them employment opportunities.

A decision to this effect was taken by State Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a meeting with the top functionaries of the departments of Jail, Technical Education, Industry and Employment Generation here.

''The underlying objective of this scheme is to bring inmates in the mainstream of the society thereby keeping them involved in the vocational activities'', Mr Badal said.

The Chief Minister asked the senior officers of these departments to have detailed interaction with representatives of the industry to ascertain the quantum of requisite job work to be undertaken by the inmates.

Mr Badal referred to hosiery and woollen products in Ludhiana where the services of inmates in local Borstan and Lady's jails could be utilised, besides exploring the possibilities to impart them training as per the requirements of the industry.

He asked the officers to offer regular counselling to the inmates to enable them to choose the vocational occupation of their choice.

He said that services of experts from colleges, universities especially from the Punjab Technical University and other institutions of repute could be availed of for exploring their capabilities and capacities of the inmates.

Mr Badal also asked the officers to develop facilities for the training of the inmates in jails in collaboration with the local industry.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the state government could also install permanent machinery and infrastructure for the training of the inmates in consultation with state technical education department. Special training modules could be prepared by the Technical Education Department for the benefits of inmates, he said.

Later Mr Badal reviewed the effort to develop the agriculture farm, measuring 178 acres in the Nabha jail, into hi-tech seed farm of wheat and paddy under the direct supervision and guidance of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana.

The Chief Minister assured the jail administration that state government would provide all possible financial and technical support to make it one of the leading foundation seed farms in the state on the pattern of PAU.

Mr Badal asked the state agriculture department and PAU authorities to depute technical staff to impart know-how and other inputs to them for the production of high quality seeds.

UNI VKJ RJ KN1850