Sanitaryware majors to focus on skilling plumbers

On the occasion of World Youth Skills Day, two sanitaryware companies Monday said they are focusing on skilling plumbers including women in order to address the shortage of trained workers in the sector.

The CSR wing of Roca Bathroom Products- 'we are water Foundation'- said it has partnered with Indian Plumbing Skills Council (IPSC) to train 1600 unskilled workers across India in plumbing, including 700 women.

Through training modules for a period of one year, the skilling programmes aim to touch the plumbing community in metro cities such as Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, along with tier II and III cities across India, Roca said.

Another sanitaryware major, Jaquar Group claimed 2,000 unskilled personnel have already been trained through its skill development centres and aims to train 10,000 by 2020. Currently, 17 skill development centres of it are operational while 20 are under-construction, it said.

The two companies also said they support government's 'Skill India' initiative aggressively.

"We are delighted to announce our association with IPSC, to help inculcate the desired skills among the existing plumbing technicians, with a key focus on women, who are breaking stereotypes by joining the profession," Managing Trustee of 'we are water Foundation', K E Ranganathan said.

Jaquar group promoter and director Rajesh Mehra said, to address the shortage of skilled plumbers in India the company "will offer quality training and employment opportunities to unskilled youth".

The company said it currently has two skill centres at Ranchi and Kolkata in the eastern region while two more at Hazaribagh and Sambalpur are in the pipeline.