Staff Reporter
Guwahati: On the first day of the Budget Session in the Assam Legislative Assembly, a serious discussion took place regarding the issue of local youths getting employment in industrial units that receive incentives from the Assam government.
Raising this issue in the House under Rule 53, AIUDF MLA Badruddin Ajmal wanted to know from the government as to how many local youths have been provided employment by these industries. He alleged that these industries are receiving huge amounts from the government as incentives, but the employees in these industries are from outside the state. He asserted that the government should look into the matter seriously.
Even Speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass urged the Industries Minister Bimal Borah to ascertain from time to time whether the industries are providing employment to local youth as per guidelines. In reply, the Industries Minister said that the state government is serious about the issue of providing employment to local youth. The primary purpose of providing incentives to the industries is engagement of local youth in them. It is mandatory for the industries to employ 80% local people in the managerial level and 90% in the unskilled category, the Minister added.
Questioning the minister's assertion, Ajmal asked whether the government is monitoring adherence to the guidelines by the industries. He said that, according to available information, around 60% of the employees are from outside the state.
The Assam government provides several types of incentives to industries, like state GST reimbursement, power subsidy, stamp duty reimbursement, interest subsidy on working capital loans, generating set subsidy, etc.
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