Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 8, 2015 :

Faced with uncertain future, South Korean steel major Posco has finally closed down its Human Resources Development (HRD) centre at Paradip, where it proposed to put up a 12-million ton steel plant at an estimated cost in exces of Rs 52,000 crore.

The steel company had set up the HRD centre in 2007 to give a feeler to the local youths that it was very keen to ensure their livelihood once the plant comes up. In fact, it had enrolled 33 local youths in the first batch in December that year. The centre offered various training modules, including electrician, fitter, welding, plumbing, fabrication, carpenter etc, to train unskilled youths.

The Company had unveiled a plan to recruit locals for its activities and operations for which the HRD centre was facilitating necessary vocational training. It was aiming to train some five lakh unemployed local youths to engage them in its unit here and had earmarked an estimated investment of about 10 million dollars for setting up the training centre.

Now that the project is virtually shelved, the local youths who were hopeful of getting employment opportunities at the steel unit are feeling a total let down.

The multi-storey training centre had come to a halt since long. The workshops have been locked and the equipment exposed to decay.

Only three security personnel employed by a private firm are guarding the centre. Despite this, some valuables have allegedly been siphoned off from the unit.

Meanwhile, officials have auctioned some electronic equipment in the skill upgradation centre, which were about to rot due to lack of proper maintenance.