IMPHAL, July 14: Manipur State Power Distribution Company Limited MSPDCL today signed a Memorandum of Understanding for workman training with Power Sector Skill Council, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship government of India.
The MoU was signed in the Cabinet Room of CM`™s Secretariat on July 14. The MSPDCL was represented by its Managing Director R Sudan while the PSSC was represented by its Chief Executive Officer Binod Bihari.
Speaking on the occasion, the State Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh expressed gratitude to the Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India for selecting Manipur to undertake the Pilot Project of skill development for Workmen.
This project is as per National Skill Development Policy 2009, he observed.
`I am told that Power Sector Skill Council has been created and has come into operation recently with a mandate to support power industry with appropriate interventions leading to development of required skill sets, in response to industry requirements,` the Chief Minister observed.
He further expressed optimism that the PSSC will identify skill gaps, frame Occupational Standards in order to facilitate development of practical and high quality training content, ensure adequate availability of faculty through training of Trainer initiatives, build accreditation and certification mechanisms and encourage capacity building.
The Chief Minister also congratulated the State Power department for the tie up with the PSSC and said it should start focusing on the most critical gap of Capacity building in respect of work men in power sector.
According to the Chief Minister, the Manipur State Power Distribution Company Limited after the unbundling from Electricity department, has been trying its best to improve the quality of electrical supply to the people of Manipur.
`In order to further improve the supply of the power to the common people, the maintenance of the existing infrastructure and provide uninterrupted power supply is the key.`
`MSPDCL is now initiating a programme to train and skill up the existing linemen staffs and future outsourced linemen staffs. They will be certified and assess by PSSC.`
`I sincerely appreciate the efforts of department of Labour& Employment, Government of Manipur, which has played an important role under the leadership of I Hemochandra Singh, minister, PHED and Labour & Employment, by agreeing to provide infrastructural support namely, ITI, Takyel, for the purpose of skill training of staff of MSPDCL.`
We are also appreciative of the efforts of Deloitte, the leading global consulting firm, which has been the PMU for MSPDCL, for being the key driver behind all stakeholders coming together for the skill training program of staff of MSPDCL, he continued.
The Chief Minister also appreciated the JCRE Skill Solutions which has been appointed as the Local Training Provider for the agreement reached between MSPDCL and PSSC.
Ibobi also expressed desire that the training partner shall thoroughly train all the linesmen and other workmen under the Power sector so that skilled talent pool for MSPDCL is created to deliver quality work to handle the growing workload.
The occasion was also attended by I Hemochandra Singh, minister of PHED/Labour & Employment;
PC Lawmkunga, State chief secretary; Dr J Suresh Babu, principal secretary (Power ); Dr Suhel Akhtar, principal secretary Labour; Vinod Behari, CEO, Power Sector Skill Council, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship; Ajit Mathai, director, Deloitte Consultancy Niranjan, Director & CEO of JCRE Solutions.