ANANTNAG, APRIL 26 (KNS): Principal Secretary Skill Development Department (SDD) Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon inaugurated cricket bat crafting course at CFC Sethar here today.
After inaugurating the course, the Principal Secretary interacted with the unit holders and officials from industries and other departments.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Samoon said that the initiative will add trained man power to the bat industry. While discussing end to end product development, the Principal Secretary said that the stakeholders need to focus on producing finished products besides marketing of the products. He highlighted that the value addition will attract more entrepreneurs to the bat industry.
Appreciating the initiative of District Skill Committee (DSC), the Principal Secretary said that DSCs have been setup in all districts and he is hopeful other districts will emulate similar skill enhancement initiatives.
Dr. Samoon remarked that the department has started ranking of ITIs based on various key performance indicators to promote healthy competition among the institutions. He said the focus of ITIs should be on providing employment oriented training to students and the SDD is committed to equipping the institutions with modern equipment to impart necessary technical skills. He said the New Education Policy provides flexible entry exit opportunities to the students and promotes on the job training and the same is being incorporated in technical education institutes.
On the occasion,the Principal Secretary was briefed about the course details by the course partners. He was informed that theoretical as well as practical sessions will be held with topics ranging from selection of raw materials to finishing and marketing of the bat.
Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Dr Piyush Singla said that the course will add skilled manpower to the local industry and generate employment opportunities for the youth. He said that the District Skill Committee is working out details for similar courses in other industrial sectors. He said that the course is being run free of cost and budding entrepreneurs should take benefit from the course. He further said that in collaboration with KVK a project will be setup to grow English willows in the district so the same can than be utilised to add diversity in products being produced by the industry.
GM DIC, Peerzada Zahoor said that 147 industrial bat units are registered with DIC Anantnag. He said the units are producing more than 20 lakh bats per year with a turnover of more than Rs 110 crore. He said that the bat crafting course will equip the youth with necessary skills to work in the bat industry and similar courses for other sectors are being designed to provide more such opportunities to the youth.
The Principal Secretary on the occasion also distributed forest licenses among several unit holders.
Later, the Principal Secretary visited ITI Anantnag and Govt Polytechnic College Larkipora. He interacted with students at both locations and emphasized upon punctuality of staff and students.
At ITI Anantnag, he inspected the college and interacted with students. He laid thrust on imparting quality education and practical skill enhancement training to prepare students for the job market.
At Larkipora, Dr. Samoon inagurated two computer labs equipped with state of the art computers that will provide general IT training as well as specialized AUTO CAD training to the students. Inspecting various projects under development at GPC Larkipora, Dr Samoon issued directions for developing a playfield within the campus. He further pressed for expediting the ongoing works at hostel block and completing compound walling of the institute.(KNS)