Power Ministry Sought Cap Relaxation Under 'Project Visas' regime

The Steel and Power ministry in a recent meeting of the Monitoring Committee chaired by Ajit Seth, Secretary (Coordination), Cabinet Secretariat sought relaxation in the existing cap of allowing a maximum of 40 foreign workers for various projects under the 'Project Visas' regime. The Monitoring Committee was constituted to address the problems of implementation of the Project/Employment Visa regime. In the meeting the Steel Ministry officials highlighted the nature of foreign manpower needed for projects being executed in the sector were different as compared to other sectors. After consultations with Mecon, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and industry experts, the ministry concluded that the cap of 1 per cent with maximum 40 foreign workers ought to be relaxed, particularly in case of those projects where domestic utilities have executed their agreements with the foreign collaborators. It was also felt that the total manpower requirements of the project should be determined at the stage of conceptualisation of the project by the sponsoring authority and then the labour requirements, both Indian and foreign be sent to the union labour ministry with a flow chart.