Chandigarh, Jan 1 (IANS): Despite the Punjab government being under a debt of over Rs 2 lakh crore, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered filling up of the 1.2 lakh vacant posts in government departments in a phased manner.

The Chief Minister directed senior officers to carry out the filling up process of the vacancies in a phased but focused manner, addressing the critical requirements of departments of health, education and medical education and research in the first phase.

The directives came during a meeting held here on Tuesday to review the progress of the state government's flagship 'Ghar Ghar Rozgar' and 'Karobar Mission' scheme.

The Chief Minister has asked Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh to work out the modalities for filling up the government vacancies.

"The Chief Secretary has been directed to hold a meeting of Administrative Secretaries to work out the requirement of posts to be filled in the various departments in the Officers' Committee headed by him," an official spokesperson said.

The Chief Minister stressed on the need for better coordination and synergy between the Skill Development Mission and the Department of Employment Generation and Training (DEGT) to bridge the gap between skill training and job profile.

He called for more special technical training and vocational guidance programmes to equip the local youth to be gainfully employed in the domestic industry.

Technical Education and Employment Generation minister Charanjit Singh Channi apprised the meeting that 30,000 youth had applied for placements in foreign companies during the aOverseas Employment Camp' organised by DEGT.