As reported in media a quadripartite agreement has been signed between National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), GAIL, Skill Development Institute (SDI) and LabourNet in the presence of Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan in Bhubaneswar.

This partnership will lead to the first model Skill Development Institute (SDI) in the Hydrocarbon Sector which has been designed to provide training to around 300 candidates annually and targets to train more than 40,000 youth over the next 10 years.

The intent of this MoU is to promote and enhance seamless skill development activities related to Urja Ganga Gas Pipeline Project.

Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, shared that this gas pipeline project is highly ambitious. He further added that this project aims to provide piped cooking (PNG) gas to residents of the eastern region of the country and CNG gas for the vehicles.

"This partnership with the players working in this field will provide the youth with industry-relevant skills needed for this project making them employable,” Dharmendra Pradhan said in media.

In 2016 the foundation of this project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and this project is considered as a major step towards collective growth and development of the Eastern region of India. Under it, overall 20 lakh households will get PNG connection.

Since then rigorous work has been going on this project.

Back in October, this year, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched supply of piped natural gas (PNG) project under ‘Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga’ (PMUG) in Odisha.  Commendably, this was done ahead of its schedule in March 2018.This had marked the start of supply of environment-friendly PNG to 255 houses in Nalco Nagar located at Chandrasekharpur area in the state capital by GAIL.

After the launch of PNG project in Odisha the director of projects from GAIL, Ashutosh Karnatak had shared the goals of the project.

He said, “Around 25,000 households in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack would get PNG connection in their kitchens by December 2019 as part of the city gas distribution (CGD) project. The number of PNG connections will be gradually ramped up in the next three to five years.”

To achieve these ambitious goals there is a requirement of appropriate skill and the government realizes that.  Early in December, this year, GAIL announced that it has awarded job contracts for laying a 520 km stretch in Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga gas pipeline project.

And now to ensure a seamless execution of the project the government is taking various initiatives to develop these skills. With this latest pact between NSDC, GAIL, SDI, and LabourNet, the nationwide Skill India campaign also gets a boost.

While at the time of inaugural the government estimated to invest Rs. 12,490 crore for the development of 2540 km long natural gas pipeline project in Eastern India region, it is now also making an investment in the skills of the nation.

<Five regions including 40 districts and 2600 villages are said to benefit from this project. >