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Gujarat power sector needs 25,000 techies
By siliconindia
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Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 22:42 IST |
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Gandhinagar: Indian state Gujarat is facing an acute shortage of trained manpower in the rapidly developing power sector. For power generation projects in the state under the 11th Plan, Gujarat will need 11,722 technical and non-technical staffers by 2012; for transmission and distribution, the state will need 15,917 technical and 7,149 non-technical workers, says the state government estimates.
In addition, Gujarat will require 80,895 trained personnel for 99 power projects worth Rs 3,13,444 crore committed during the Vibrant Summit 2009, reported DNA Money.
"The projects committed under the 11th Plan and Vibrant Gujarat summit will alone require 1.14 lakh new workers. If clubbed with the backlog of requirements of the previous three summits, the figure will be much higher. Around 25,000 engineers and other staffers are required for the power sector in the state, in order to match the needs of the projects," the source said.
An analysis of the data of power generation firms in Gujarat over the last three years indicates that the sector employs around two persons per megawatt of thermal installed capacity; the figure for gas is around 1.25 persons and for lignite, 2.64.
However, the requirement under the 11th Plan is much higher. The state government aims to add more than 70,000 megawatt capacity by 2012, under the 11th Plan. If the projection of 51,648 megawatt projects committed at the Vibrant Gujarat summit 2009 is considered, as well as that of previous summits, the manpower requirement becomes much higher.
"The state government has asked Torrent Power to prepare a draft of manpower requirements of the power sector in the state for the coming few years. The report is expected soon. The state government is also planning to open up more engineering colleges and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) under public-private partnerships. For this, the energy department and the Directorate of Technical Education will chalk out plans," a source said.
