The Himachal Pradesh government will form a committee of the Labour and Employment department to ensure the implementation of a 70 per cent job quota to local residents in industrial units of the state.

BJP MLA from Doon Paramjeet Singh Pammi raised the query during Question Hour on the 5^th day of the ongoing winter session of state assembly at Tapovan in Dharamshala in Kangra district and alleged that the government’s directive isn’t being implemented in the industries sector.

State Rural Development Minister Virender Kanwar responded to the query as the Industry minister was absent from the house and said a committee will be formed to ensure implementation of the directive and action will be taken against erring industries.

“At present, we have identified 18 industrial units which were violating the directive of providing 70 per cent employment to locals in industrial units and they have been given show-cause notice. If they are found to be violating the norms, the state government will withdraw benefits provided to these units by the state,” he said.

He stated that it has been seen that local youth were not keen on working in textile, cement and steel industrial units. But the legislator asserted that the norm was not even being followed in pharmaceutical units in the state.

As per the data available with the state government, as many as 1,06,749 persons were employed in different private units including 60,127 in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt of the state.

He assured the legislator that if any industrial unit was found to be in violation of the state law then strict action will be taken by the Labour and Employment department.

Kanwar said Himachal had notified industrial policy in 2004 in which provision of 70 per cent employment to Himachalis was made and it had now been increased to 80 per cent in the Industrial Policy 2019.

The officers of the Labour and Employment department (Labour Officer, Labour Inspector and District Employment Officer) will inspect the industrial units for implementation of the norms.

The state government can direct the entrepreneurs to give employment to the local youth which will help in solving the unemployment problem of the state, he added.

Congress MLA from Nalagarh Lakhvinder Rana alleged that the employment norm was only implemented on paper as local candidates were being ignored while granting jobs in the industrial units.

BJP MLA from Nagrota Arun Kumar urged the government to come out with a list of beneficiaries in the house as the youth were being ignored while outsiders were given preference in the industrial sector.