New Delhi Jan 15 (IANS): Chhattisgarh has constituted an Employment Mission under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel with an aim to generate 12 to 15 lakh new employment opportunities in the next five years, officials said on Saturday.

The state government has decided to name Chief Secretary and various senior officials as key members of this mission.

The government has directed Chief Executive Officer of the mission, Alok Shukla to prepare and submit an action plan regarding the mission within a month.

The government said that in the last three years, many innovative programmes have been launched in the state with the objective of promoting employment in every district here.

"These innovations have created a large number of permanent employment opportunities and have improved people's income and standard of living.

"Along with the initiatives of Chhattisgarh Herbals, there is an immense scope of creating new employment opportunities through effective implementation of the programs such as Godhan Nyay Mission, Tea-Coffee Board, giving the status of agriculture to fisheries and lac production, establishment of rural industrial park, and initiatives such as millet mission and commercial plantation," a statement said.

Under the mission, co-ordination will be established between all the aforementioned new programmes and the skill development programmes conducted in the urban and rural areas.

Moreover, expertise of institutions such as IIT, IIIT, IIM, NIT will also be taken to create new opportunities.