Pune Zilla Parishad hosts three day training programme to provide employment to rural youths

Pune Zilla Parishad (ZP) has initiated a three-day training programme to promote rural tourism and provide employment to locals.

The programme, conducted in collaboration with Gram Sevak Training Centre and Bhavtal, will train over 30 youths from ten different rural tourist spots in Pune district. The residential training will take place at the Gramsevak Training Institute in Manjari, and the trainees will receive certification upon completion.

Mangalprabhat Lodha, Maharashtra’s minister of skill development, tourism, and women’s child development, inaugurated the programme on March 28. He emphasised the importance of tourist guides in providing official information on historical sites, natural beauty spots, cultural and religious sites, and adventure activities in the Pune District.

ZP CEO Ayush Prasad, Gram Sevak Training Institute Principal Rahul Kalbhor, Deputy CEO Sachin Ghadge, and Bhavtal Founder Abhijeet Ghorpade were present at the launch event.

Prasad said, “We have large numbers of local, domestic and international  tourists coming in.Local tourist because if we look at Pune, Nashik and Mumbai Regions there is a population of 4 cr. If one percent of the people step out during the weekend then it becomes almost 4 lakh tourists.Currently we have identified 416 tourist  locations and put them into 8-9 various categories.The aim behind this initiative is to enhance tourists experience at each of these sites and it becomes an attractive site for tourists. And also to give an opportunities of employment in remote areas.’’

 ZP CEO Ayush Prasad said, these tourist guides should register them with various platforms. Pune Zilla Parishad is going to launch a call centre where tourists can call on 18002334130 toll free numbers to book authorised tourist guides.

According to authority there will be ten different sessions conducted over three days of training. This is the first kind of activity organised by any ZP in the state. Minister Lodha announced that similar training programmes for tourist guides will be provided by the Rural Skill Development Center and local governments in the future.

Abhijit Ghorpade founder of Bhavtal said, “This was a three day residential programme of skill development under which various tourist guides participated to enhance their skill. Pune ZP, Bhavtal and Gramsevak training institute had taken efforts for this initiative to get these guides hand hold in their business.”

We are thinking to organise more scuh initiatives at taluka level as well in near future, added Ghorpade.