BANDIPORA: Principal Secretary, Industry and Commerce, Ranjan Prakash Thakur, on Sunday visited Bandipora to review performance of Rural Business Processing Outsource centre established by the district administration to create business opportunities for educated youth in the private sector.
Additional Deputy Commissioner, Zahoor Ahmad Mir, Joint Director Planning, Imtiyaz Ahmad, Assistant Commissioner Revenue, Parvaiz Raheem, Additional Superintendent of Police, Ashiq Tak, Executive Engineer R&B , General Manager DIC Bandipora, Mehraj Wani, District Informatics Officer Malaram Choudhary and CEO/ Manager AIPTL, Zahoor Ahmad Shah were present in the meeting.
ADC gave a detailed presentation highlighting the performance of Rural BPO inaugurated in 2019 by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. He said the Rural BPO was the first of its kind initiative taken up by the district administration aimed to create business opportunities for educated youth in the private sector. He said its establishment also aimed to attract entrepreneurs, investors and MNCs in IT to establish their business units with ultimate objective of enhancing employment opportunities for the youth in JK.
Mir said 120 youth are presently employed in the BPO including 45 percent females. He said due to seating limitations (60 seats manpower), intake capacity is capped at 150 and hoped that addition of space can bring more employment opportunities. He said on the basis of experience gained in BPO center, candidates are getting better opportunities both outside UT and abroad.
It was informed that one dedicated Point to Point (p2p) fiber has been laid by BSNL from AITPL Sonwar Srinagar to Rural BPO Bandipora at the cost of Rs 19.24 lakh.
Principal Secretary, while speaking on the occasion, lauded the efforts of district administration towards making Rural BPO a grand success. He appreciated the BPO Model of the district and hinted at replicating the same in other districts.
Thakur also visited the Rural BPO and interacted with the staff to get the feedback about functioning of the centre.
On the occasion, staff members apprised the Principal Secretary of several issues seeking an early redressal to the same.
Principal Secretary assured them that all their grievances and issues will be resolved on priority.
Principal Secretary asked the district administration to identify land for establishing BPO outside the mini secretariat complex so that space constraints are met and more people are able to get jobs.
While highlighting the performance of District Industries Centre, ACR, who is also holding the charge of General Manager DIC Bandipora, said more than 550 units have been registered under UDYAM. He said 271 cases have been sponsored under PMEGP scheme during the financial year 2020-2021 and 365 units have been registered formally in the district. He said Rs 2.31 crore have been disbursed as various incentives among the unit holders.
General Manager informed that two new industrial estates, located at Chewa and Gundikhalil Sumbal, have been identified within the district to give a boost to the industrial sector and the land has been handed over to SIDCO and SICOP for development.
He urged upon the young entrepreneurs to log in to website www.invest.jk.gov.in, a single point of contact for investment opportunities and facilitation in UT of Jammu & Kashmir. He said the website provides an interface between Investors and the Government of J&K for speedy clearances and redressal of issues faced.