Govt planning to train 0.5m masons

The government is planning to train 0.5 million masons across the country for developing them as skilled workers, aiming to make the real estate sector vibrant by promoting green-building methods and minimising casualty.

The trained masons might also help boost the manpower sector, said insiders.

A five-year project would be taken in this regard, which would be the biggest ever initiative by the government, said officials.

State-run Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) has proposed the project to 'the access to information (a2i)' under the prime minister's office (PMO).

"The a2i has verbally given consent. A workshop is going on in HBRI office in the city in this regard when the whole scheme will be fixed, including the budget," HBRI director Mohammad Abu Sadeque told the FE.

The project will have two segments -- "training of trainers" (ToT) and "field level training for masons".

Mr Sadeque said the masons will get training on masonries like carpentry, electrician, bar binding, scaffolding, plumbing, plastering, aluminum fabricating, tiles fitting, interior carpentry and others. The trained workers will learn green-construction processes, an agenda of the government's seventh-five year plan.

Twenty organisations like city corporations, paurashavas, LGED and government vocational training institutes will be involved in the scheme.

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