Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today assured the state legislative assembly that bona fide Goans would be given preference in employment at the proposed international airport at Mopa in North Goa district.
Parrikar, however, also made it clear that for the top and crucial posts, merit would be the primary criterion for the selection of candidates, where “no compromise would be made”.
“We cannot compromise on the safety of passengers. Therefore, the candidates for the top and crucial posts would be selected on the basis of merit and only those who hold proper certifications,” Parrikar told the House.
The chief minister was replying a question raised during the Question Hour by Congress MLA Jeniffer Monserratte, who sought to know the state government’s stand on employment to the local residents at the upcoming airport, which is expected to be commissioned in 2020.
Parrikar said, “Under Article 5: Obligations of the Concessionaire of Concession Agreement, a provision has been made for providing jobs to locals.”
He said that all the riders are in place in the agreement that will be signed with GMR Goa International Airport Limited, which has won the bid for the airport.
He said the company should give preference to bona fide Goans for all the jobs in the airport and publish advertisements about the job vacancies at the facility at least in three dailies in the state with wide circulation.
According to Parrikar, the company, with the help of Goa University, has carried out a survey on the availability of local manpower in six villages surrounding the airport site.
“There will be data available on how many people can be employed from the nearby villages,” he said.
The chief minister advised the local population “not to sell their lands that are lying adjacent to the (proposed) airport and that are outside the commercial zone.”
“I have been advising not to sell the land, which are outside the commercial zone. The rest development zone will become high activity area. This can be exploited by locals for various activities,” he said.
Parrikar said that the agreement with the company would be signed by October this year. “The state government is going to monitor the agreement for its implementation,” he said.
He said the skill development programmes running between three months to one-and-a-half year would be held to train the local manpower.
“To run the airport is not a joke. There are highly skilled posts. If a Goan is available on merit, then he will get the job. There is pre-activity happening, during which 25 people are being trained for top posts, of which eight are Goans,” he said.
“There are certain areas, where you cannot compromise on quality. There are 25 per cent positions, where compromise cannot be done. I am sure that out of those 25 per cent, 8-10 per cent will be eligible Goans. I will get them trained and I will see that Goans are preferred,” Parrikar added.
