GUWAHATI: According to a report by The Assam Tribune, young women employed under the ‘beauty and wellness’ sector under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) have allegedly been subjected to mental and physical exploitation. This raises a major question on the safety aspect of the Centre’s flagship programme.
A number of women from different parts of the State have voiced their experiences in the last few days. Some of these women have reportedly fled from their workplace as they were unable to bear the torture inflicted on them. Some victims have also reported that their passports had been taken away and their salaries still remain unpaid.
A victim said that after completing a six-month beauty and wellness course under the PMKVY at Orion Edutech, Panjabari, she got a placement in Hyderabad in December last year. She was informed that she would have to work as a beautician but later was placed in a spa centre where she had to face a lot of physical and mental harassment.
According to another victim, a team of ten girls, all of whom were trained under the PMKVY in the beautification sector left for Hyderabad last year and were given a presentation about Hyderabad, but it turned out that the whole thing was fake.
They mentioned that they were also sexually harassed by a lot of customers when working as spa beauticians.
Speaking on the matter, Nilakshi Sarma, Manager of the 181-Sakhi helpline service of Assam said that since the victim did not want to lodge a complaint, she was advised to head back to Guwahati.
Ranjan Sarma, the placement coordinator of PMKVY at Orion Edutech Centre in Guwahati added that during recruitment, the participants were informed that they would have to work in the spa sector and they agreed to it. However, Sarma has not been informed about any sexual harassment until now.
