With an eye on next year’s elections, the Maharashtra government has announced fresh sops and financial assistance for jobless engineers and defunct power looms across the State. The government on Friday increased contract limits for jobless engineers from the existing ₹75 lakh to ₹1.50 crore, increasing empanelment limits to 20 years from the existing 10 and five in various categories, officials confirmed.
“Some departments have been individually giving works worth up to ₹75 lakh to unemployed engineers. This has been extended to all departments, with an increased limit of ₹1.5 crore in several categories. For these departments, too, we have set up an empanelment limit of five and ten years which has now been increased to 20 years,” said Sachin Chivate, under secretary, Maharashtra Government.
Earlier this year, at a convocation ceremony at IIT- Bombay, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged engineering institutions to focus more on quality rather than quantity of students for research in cutting-edge science and technology, with focus on national priorities. Mr. Modi had said the country is producing over seven lakh engineers every year but not all of them are graduating with the right set of skills.
For the small scale industries and cooperatives working in the textile sector, the State has announced an interest on loan subsidy for struggling power looms. The scheme was formally announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Smriti Irani while inaugurating the PowerTex India Schemes in 43 cities earlier this year. “We have opened a new budget head for providing funds for the scheme this year,” said a textile department official.
