Will try to sort employment issue of youths in Udaipur's mining-affected area Rajasthan minister

Jaipur, Aug 2 (PTI) Rajasthan minister Gajendra Singh Khinvsar said Friday the mines department will try to resolve through mediation the issue of employment of youngsters residing in the mining-affected area of Udaipur's Jawar gram panchayat.
    The matter was raised in the assembly by Udaipur Rural MLA Phool Singh Meena through a calling attention motion during the Zero Hour.
    In his response, Khinvsar said Hindustan Zinc's mine is valid till 2030 and three gram panchayats of the Udaipur Rural assembly constituency fall in the mining area. The company was allotted 3,620 hectares of land, out of which 1,538 hectares belonged to the forest department.
    The minister informed the House that Hindustan Zinc was given the land by diversion with the consent of the people of the village and an agreement was made between the company and the villagers regarding employment of local people.
    "As per the agreement, Hindustan Zinc developed a vocational training centre in which training was provided to the local youths and employment was given in the company," he said.
    The minister said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the year 2020, 2,500 people in the area were working there, whereas at present, 2,700 people in the local area are getting employment.
    He said that a week ago, local people stopped the mining activity and demanded more employment. The protest went on for about a week. Thereafter, on the petition of Hindustan Zinc, the high court directed the district collector to remove the dharna and ensure that the operations of the mining continued smoothly.
    Khinvsar said Hindustan Zinc had not given any assurance in the agreement as to how many people would be given employment.
    He said that if there is any legally valid document, that will be presented in the court and action will be taken by the department.
    Also, the department will try to make an agreement with Hindustan Zinc through mediation and provide employment opportunities to more people by training them, the minister added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)