Skill India: CREDAI says will train 13,000 construction workers in 2019-20

As the construction industry is grappling with shortage of skilled workforce, the apex body of registered builders CREDAI is aiming to train 13,000 workers by 2020 across the country with the help of government-backed skill training agencies.

The real estate and construction sector alone needs 45 million additional skilled workers over the next 10 years, according to an estimate of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI).

CREDAI's Delhi-NCR president Pankaj Bajaj told PTI that the body is working big time on skilling construction workers to meet the growing demands in the sector in coming years.

It also "implements CSR programmes and in partnership with PNB Housing Finance Limited (PNBHFL) under their CSR has been imparting skill development training since 2015. Under this partnership with PNBHFL, CREDAI aims to train 13,000 workers/youth in financial year 2019-20", he said.

The association, which has 12,500 members in 205 cities and 23 states, is working closely with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Construction Skill Development Council of India (CSDCI) under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) scheme. It has also signed a pact with CSDCI to certify one lakh construction workers under RPL 4 scheme by March 2020.

"Under CREDAI's 'Skill India' Initiative under the aegis of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Awas Yojna, we are going to train about one lakh workers. They will be provided vocational training in the construction industry. A skilled workforce will be prepared to take on the building challenge across the country in next four to five years," Bajaj said.

With shortage of skilled manpower in the industry on the one hand and high levels of unemployment in the country on the other, the need for focusing on skill development programmes cannot be over emphasised, he added.

"It is in this background CREDAI ventured into skill development of construction workers through its Pune chapter's 'Kushal' initiative in 2011. Since then CREDAI through its chapters and under its CSR Foundation has trained more than 1.25 lakh construction workers/youth in job roles related to real estate and construction sector," Bajaj said.

Noting that skilled labour causes less wastage of material and saves times, one NCR-based developer Gulshan Homz, a member of CREDAI, said it pays more wages to skilled workers in comparison to unskilled ones.

The real estate group said it also conducts regular training programme for workers at its project construction sites.

"We have managed a construction manual so that we can observe the time being taken by a worker to complete his appointed task. Our civil or construction team manages this manual and keeps a regular watch on every worker to get to know the duration to finish any task/work by both skilled and unskilled worker. This actually helps the team in improving on a regular basis and saves time, material and products, it said.