Industry has cautiously welcomed Andhra Pradesh government’s move to provide 75 per cent reservations for jobs in the industrial units in the State to locals.

The Bill, introduced in the State Assembly during the ongoing Budget session, once enacted , will be applicable to all existing and upcoming units, joint ventures and projects taken up under the public-private partnership mode. The existing units have been given three years to comply.

If skilled personnel are not available for the jobs on offer, the units should undertake skill development programmes and employ locals, according to the Bill.

Although the industry has welcomed the initiative, some have expressed concern.

G Sambasiva Rao, president of the AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation, said the move was a welcome one, and “most of the units employ locals only. However, there are certain sectors where it may be difficult to find locals for the jobs and the units will be forced to search outside. Further, while giving jobs to locals, the entire State of Andhra Pradesh, comprising 13 districts, should be treated as one unit. It is not possible to bring down the reservation to the district level.”

O Naresh Kumar, the CEO of Symbiosis, a local IT company, said in sectors such as the IT “a substantial number of jobs are given to non-locals for a variety of reasons. We can see it in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. It may, therefore, be unrealistic to enforce the norm in all the sectors. There may be exemptions. Moreover, Andhra Pradesh is desperately struggling to attract investments in different sectors after bifurcation, and may notin a position to lay down such conditions.”

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