Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 22 (IANS) Eyeing the domestic and global construction boom, Kerala is planning an academy to train industry personnel from masons to engineers, a minister said Thursday.


"The building industry is booming at home and abroad. We should take advantage of this. The proposed academy will also train and provide value addition to existing professionals," Labour Minister Shibhu Baby John told reporters here after his visit to Singapore where he went to study the latest developments in technical education.

"We are talking with experts in the West to partner us in this endeavour and soon we will come out with the blueprint," he added.

Among the other initiatives that would be launched in the coming months would be training institutions for security guards and home nurses.

"We are aware that these are areas which have huge potential both in the country and abroad and hence very soon those who would like to enter these professions will have to get certified from the agencies which the labour department would set up. They will also be given certificates once they undergo the required training programme," John said.

John, soon after taking over in May, had promised that he would set up a toll free number for those who had any issues relating to labour.

" After the toll free number was introduced last month we received 43 calls and all the cases were settled," John said.

" We also found out that there is no problem with the labour class in the state but the real problem is the issues that surface when political parties call for shutdowns. We have asked the cabinet to see if a special court can be set up that would deal with cases concerned with destruction of public property," John added.

The minister also said his department would soon conduct road shows in the Middle East to showcase Kerala's human resources.