Visakhapatnam : An Overseas Skill Testing Centre (OSTC) and a Pre Departure Orientation Training (PDOT) centre for Indian workers going abroad for work are planned to be established in the city.
General Manager of Overseas Management Company of Andhra Pradesh (OMCAP) K.V. Swamy, Protectorate of Emigration Madhusuhan Rao, TLS Bhaskar of India Centre for Migration (ICM) and DGM of OMCAP Hanuman Nayak told The Hindu during an interaction at the end of the two-day workshop on “Awareness generation on Migration and Pre Departure Orientation” here on Friday.
The OSTC, planned to be set up in three months, would only benefit overseas job-seekers, recruiting agents and trainers but also overseas employers by providing them trained, tested and certified manpower, who could match their requirements.
AP State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) is expected to fund the project. Three other such centres are planned to be opened in the State in future. The OSTCs would not only benefit job-seekers but also overseas recruiting agents and trainers
Minister for Labour and Employment Pithani Satyanarayana, who is also Chairman of OMCAP, and Principal Secretary (Labour and Employment) Neerab Kumar Prasad, who is Vice Chairman of OMCAP, interacted with various stakeholders during the two-day workshop in Visakhapatnam, in this regard.
OMCAP was established in 2006 to prevent exploitation of migrant workers by middlemen. Over 2,000 migrant workers had been deployed by OMCAP to work overseas. The Minister for Labour and Employment of AP is the Chairman of OMCAP while the Vice-Chairman is the Principal Secretary (Labour and Employment). A Migrant Resource Centre was started in the combined State in Hyderabad during 2009. Post-bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, three agencies – OMCAP, which takes care of the recruitment of overseas workers, (APSSDC), which provides skill development training and AP Non Resident Telugu (APNRT) Society, which is taken care of the migrant workers in the respective countries.
Hyderabad was the centre of operations for recruitment of workers for overseas jobs. Even overseas employers prefer to visit Hyderabad to finalise the recruitment of prospective workers. This was turning out to be a challenge for authorized recruiting agents in Visakhapatnam. The good air connectivity from Hyderabad to Gulf countries was the reason for their preference. The single flight from Vizag to Dubai was unable to meet the requirements of migrant workers.
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