Unemployed youth take to streets over ‘job crisis’ in Solan

Frustrated with the state government’s failure to provide permanent jobs over the past two years, members of the Trained Unemployed Youth Association took to the streets in Solan. The protesters marched on Mall Road, raising slogans against the Congress government, which had promised to create one lakh jobs but delivered only 9,414—mostly on an outsourced basis.

Association president Bal Krishan criticised the government for failing to issue job advertisements and keeping the HP Public Service Commission inactive. He stated that job updates were limited to newspaper reports with no concrete action. The youth had secured a stay from the state high court against outsourced recruitment, but the government spent crores to overturn it in the apex court, reflecting its disregard for the unemployed.

Demanding permanent employment, the protestors dismissed temporary jobs as an inadequate solution. They also questioned why nurses were not being appointed batch-wise despite high demand. Instead of prioritising job creation, the government was busy restructuring panchayats while failing to fill vacant positions, they alleged.

With approximately 8 lakh registered unemployed youth in the state, frustration is mounting against the Congress government. The association warned of an intensified protest outside the Vidhan Sabha in the upcoming session if their demands were ignored.

Adding to their grievances, the youth alleged irregularities in a recent junior office assistant exam. They pointed out that the topper—an employee of the CM’s office and a resident of Rajasthan—secured the position over thousands of local aspirants. The protestors accused the government of failing to fulfill its pre-election guarantees and demanded that the Chief Minister take immediate action to provide permanent jobs.