Dehradun, April 11 -- Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday said that skill training aligned with local needs was essential to curb migration from hill regions. Addressing the launch of the "Shramik Seva" mobile app, developed by the Uttarakhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, at the chief minister's camp office, Dhami said: "To maintain transparency in the distribution of financial assistant, offline grant disbursements have been discontinued and funds are now being transferred directly to beneficiaries' accounts through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)." Dhami transferred a cumulative sum of over Rs.17 crore to 8,0005 workers through DBT at the event. According to officials, 11,828 beneficiaries received a total of Rs.29.89 crore through DBT, under the new transfer system. On Friday, the total amount stood at Rs.47.14 crore, distributed among 19,833 beneficiaries. Dhami also directed the board to "prioritise skill development for workers and their dependents". "To curb migration from hill districts, workers should be trained in locally relevant trades such as plumbing, electrical work, masonry and carpentry," he added. Dhami also highlighted growing employment opportunities in the yoga and wellness sector and said that the upcoming academic sessions should include free training in these fields for children. He also asked officials to explore overseas employment opportunities for trained construction workers through agencies registered with the Ministry of External Affairs and to link workers with the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi Scheme. Speaking on the occasion, labour commissioner PC Dumka said that 16,000 establishments were registered through the Board's portal so far. He added that Rs.80 lakh was deposited as fees and the board has collected a cess corpus of Rs.324 crore for workers' welfare. Dumka said an online system was in the works to ensure transparency in the distribution of materials to construction workers, through live photographs and geo-tracking of beneficiaries. The state government's efforts to curb out-migration from the hill districts fall under the purview of the Rural Development and Migration Prevention Commission, formed in August 2017, to evolve a vision for the focused development of the rural areas of the state and submit recommendations to the government on how to stop migration. The commission submitted its first statewide report on migration in 2018, which showed that over 700 villages in the state were deserted in the preceding decade, in which around 383,000 people left their homes....