In a bid to ensure that locals are able to bag 80 per cent of the jobs across Maharashtra, the state government is planning to modify certain rules.

Mumbai: In a bid to ensure that locals are able to bag 80 per cent of the jobs across Maharashtra, the state government is planning to modify certain rules. The state government may also introduce legislation if required, industries minister Subhash Desai said on Thursday.

The senior Shiv Sena leader also added that the government is planning to block the discounts given to companies that don’t provide jobs to locals.

Referring to the recent decision taken by the Andhra Pradesh government to reserve jobs for the locals, Mr Desai claimed that Maharashtra has never lagged in providing jobs to locals. “After Balasaheb Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena in 1966, the Sena had organised protests for introducing reservation in jobs for locals. Due to the protests, the government had issued a government resolution (GR) reserving 80 per cent jobs to locals.

Recently, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly had passed The Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in Industries/Factories Act, 2019, which reserved 75 per cent of the jobs in industrial units, factories, joint ventures, and projects set up under public-private partnership mode for local youths.

In Maharashtra, 3052 heavy industrial units provide jobs to 9,69,495 people. Out of these, 2,28,033 are in the supervisory category and  the remaining are in non-supervisory category. At least 1,91,140 locals have been provided supervisory jobs, while 8,73,795 locals have availed of non-supervisory jobs. Moreover, 10,26,992 MSMEs have provided jobs to 59,99,756 people in the state.