The Indian Institute of Welding (IIW) has raised concerns about the widening gap between the need and availability of the skilled welders for specific as well as general industrial requirements. 

A recent IIW study projected a shortage of 60,000 welding professionals during 2017-22 at the industrial clusters in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Alang and Surat. 

"We expect per capita steel consumption to increase much faster in coming years. In such a scenario, there will be increased demand for skilled welders for various applications of industrial requirements," said Hiren Patel - Vice Chairman, IIW- Vadodara.

Though Gujarat has over 525 institutes offering Diploma Courses, Engineering Colleges and Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) which impart skill training, the state government itself has projected an overall deficit of 10.67 lakh skilled human resources for the five year period ending 2022.

The IIW is in talks with corporate giants like Reliance Industries Ltd, Adani Group, Larsen & Tubro, Tata, Mahindra & Mahindra to understand their requirements of welding professionals. 

"A number of project contractors in Alang, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot have imported welding and cutting operators from China, Russia and East European Countries," R Srinivasan, Chairman of IIW stated in a statement here. 

The gap of need and availability of skilled welders is hurting the industries in terms of higher costs and delay in completion of projects. 

However, Srinivasan mentioned that IIW has offered to partner with the Gujarat Government for skill upgradation of youth and overcome the shortage of competency-certified welding workforce. "We have petitioned the Chief Minister's Office and Bhupendrasinh Chudasma, Minister for Higher & Technical Education, Government of Gujarat, about the absence of skilled welding professionals and gas cutters at all levels, pipe and plate welders, supervisors and welding engineers," he said. 

According to experts, welding offers a well-paying profession with safe and conducive work environment. "With stringent safety norms for welders and shop-floor workers, safety standards have improved. The compensation for welders is very healthy, annual packages start from Rs 3 lakh to up to as high as Rs 40 lakh. One will never be out of job in the welding industry," said Patel. 

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