Regularise workers appointed by Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam: Congress

The Congress staged a protest in Panchkula today demanding the regularisation of all personnel recruited through the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN). Former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Rao Narender Singh led the protest. Former Union minister Birender Singh also participated.

The police barricaded the protesters and stopped several Congress leaders and workers from reaching the HKRN office. The protesters raised slogans and pressed for their demands.

Congress MPs Deepender Hooda, Varun Chaudhary, Satpal Brahmachari and Karamvir Baudh, convener Ashok Arora, Deputy CLP leader Aftab Ahmed, chief whip BB Batra and actor Raj Babbar, who contested the 2024 Gurugram Lok Sabha election, were among those present.

Hooda said the BJP government was exploiting the youth through the HKRN. “We demand that all employees recruited via HKRN be regularised in government service and granted equal pay scales, dearness allowance, promotion avenues, reservation benefits and retirement benefits. Also, all future appointments should be made through regular recruitment processes,” he said.

He alleged that the government was promoting contractual employment by even filling gazetted posts through the HKRN, thereby undermining reservation provisions for Dalits, backward classes and the poor.

Hooda said the Congress government had increased government posts to four lakh to provide employment to more youths and improve public services, while the BJP government had reduced the number to 2.5 lakh, making Haryana the “unemployment capital of the country”.

He said the Congress was not making a new demand, claiming that the BJP had promised to regularise 1.25 lakh skilled contractual workers before the Assembly elections.

“A charade of issuing a formal notification was even staged for this purpose. The government issued a notification on August 15, 2024, just before the elections, yet, even after nearly two years, these contractual workers have received no law or official order confirming their regularisation. Consequently, these employees constantly live under the threat of losing their jobs. The government frequently dismisses these skilled workers on one pretext or another,” he said.

Rao Narender Singh said the youth had earned employment through merit and qualifications but were being pushed into temporary and insecure jobs.

Deepender Hooda said HKRN employees deserved job security, fair working conditions and dignity, adding that the Congress would continue to fight for their rights.