Finally, jobs materializing in Mihan

NAGPUR: For a city in the throes of Empty Nest Syndrome for quite some years, any hope of employment opportunities at the local level is welcome. Though a handful of engineering colleges and other technical institutes here have been attracting students from outside, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad still remain the favoured destination for job seekers.
The scenario may just be changing. With companies like TCS, TAL, Lupin Pharma, Hexaware setting up shop in Mihan, job opportunities are arising now albeit at a crawling pace.According to projections given by Mihan, a total of 1,20,000 jobs were to be created by 2018. So far some 5,000 have been employed in the companies here. It’s not just local applicant who are making a beeline for jobs, candidates from neighbouring cities too are applying.
When Naved Habib Pathan from Tumsar, a town 100 kms from Nagpur, enrolled for an MBA programme at a city college, he had plans to move to Mumbai. “By the time I finished the two year programme, TCS was recruiting here. I applied and got the job and am happy that I didn’t have to move further from home,” he said. Though the salary is not exactly what he would have got in a metro, he feels the opportunities are immense. “This is a big company and my experience here would definitely count when and if I decide to move,” he said.
There may not be a requirement for extraordinarily qualified people here at the moment. But for those without technical qualifications, Mihan is a good opportunity as getting hired here is still not very competitive. “Getting a job for me would have been tough,” said commerce graduate Mohini Gupta who hails from Jabalpur. “I applied in TCS as soon as the vacancies opened and got it. My career prospects will improve tremendously now that I am working here,” she said.
Besides the IT companies operating here, there are other venues creating jobs. At Lupin Pharma, which set up a unit here a couple of years back, almost 65% of the recruitment is local, informed an official. “Not just the city, we have candidates from neighbouring area. They are technically qualified persons, graduates and post graduates in chemistry and pharmacology,” he said, adding the company had a policy of hiring local candidates.