Shinde said the government, as a policy, has decided to train project-affected people so that they can be given jobs in the project for which they have lost land or vocation.

“We have decided that six months before the preliminary works of a project begin, the company implementing a project has to design a strategy of training the project-affected people to be employed,” Shinde said.

He added: “Although there is no legal force behind it at present, the government will persuade this policy as a matter to be implemented seriously.”

Shinde further added that power projects need 10-lakh skilled and semi-skilled work forces. This supply has to be ensured by tying up with the ITIs and other technical institutes.

DVC, the three-way joint venture between the Union, West Bengal and Jharkhand governments, has already tied up with 4 ITIs of Bengal and 4 ITIs of Jharkhand. Rakesh Nath, Chairman of the Central Electricity Authority said DVC will fund these ITIs to improve training conditions so that students are eligible for DVC’s requirements.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has already pitched for budgetary support to upgrade West Bengal’s 51 ITIs and 47 polytechnics. The state government has also taken a lead position by ensuring that investors like Jindal tie up with local ITIs where it is setting up its unit.

By the end of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, DVC will become the second largest power generator of the country after NTPC Ltd, with its installed capacity reaching 11,000 MW from the present 2,354 MW.