By the first week of May, Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) is planning on employing around 600 Bhutanese registered for the Employment Support Scheme. This was shared during the Meet the Press this morning.
After TCB opened the registration for Employment Support Scheme on 29th March, around 3,000 Bhutanese have applied for the scheme. The scheme is to provide temporary jobs in Infrastructure and manufacturing, surveys, training and re-skilling and in waste management.
Apart from training and re-skilling, Bhutanese registered for other categories will be engaged by next month. They will be developing roadside amenities, involved in sites management, cleaning of trekking routes and carrying out tourism resource inventory.
Dorji Dhradhul, the Director-General for TCB said around 600 unemployed Bhutanese will start working by the first week of May. “We had to filter some and about 2700 confirmed the registered. And again we validated, so we have around 2000 of registered people who we could employ. But then as situation changes and after the initiation of the Relief Kidu, they might withdraw voluntarily also,” he said.
More than 1400 unemployed Bhutanese have opted training and re-skilling. However, due to physical distancing measures required to contain the spread of coronavirus, the council plans on exploring quarantine methods for training and re-skilling.
Meanwhile, the Government informed that those applying for Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu can also apply for TCB’s Employment Scheme.
Dr Lotay Tshering, the Prime Minister said availing the Relief Kidu has no relation with applying for the TCB’s employment scheme. “Those Kidu recipients can do any other work. It is not ‘this or that.’ The Kidu is granted equally for all those who are affected. And if people wish to work and earn some more, they can and it depends on the individual,” Lyonchhen said.
But if the number of the registered Bhutanese for the scheme exceeds the requirement, the Tourism Council said they may prefer those who are jobless and had not applied for Kidu relief.
Since Tourism Council cannot engage all the registered candidate, the Council is also exploring on employing through Labour Ministry and Ministry of Works and Human Settlement.
Sangay Chezom
