Uproar over jobs: BJP accuses CM of giving wrong figures, stages walkout

BJP legislators today accused Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of not giving correct information on the number of jobs that his government had provided till date and walked out of the Assembly during the Question Hour while raising slogans. In response, the Chief Minister dared the Opposition to bring a privilege motion against him if he was not giving correct information.

Commotion started when Sullah MLA Vipin Singh Parmar said that there was a lot of discrepancies in the employment numbers given by the state government. “In July last year, the government stated 34,980 jobs had been given. On Independence Day this year, the Chief Minister said that 23,191 jobs had been provided. How come there’s a difference of around 10,000 jobs? Why is there such a contradiction,” asked Parmar.

The Chief Minister, however, said that his government had provided thousands of jobs in different sectors, citing the employment figures of the education, health, forest, Irrigation and Public Health and other sectors. He added that thousands of jobs would be created in various departments as well. “Besides, we are helping the youth get employment overseas. We have created an Overseas Department, which will facilitate the youth to get jobs in other countries,” he added.

Not convinced with the Chief Minister’s reply, Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur accused the former of trying to confuse the Opposition. “There is a saying that if you can’t convince them, confuse them. The Chief Minister is doing exactly that,” he alleged. “And many of the jobs which the government is claiming that it has provided were advertised during our time. Even the budgetary provisions and the selection process were started in our time,” claimed Thakur.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan criticised the Opposition for leaving the House though the Chief Minister had given an exhaustive reply to the question. “You gave them so much time, yet they left the House. They are in a way challenging the authority of the Speaker,” he added.

While responding to a question asked by Jai Ram Thakur and Lahaul and Spiti MLA Anuradha Rana, Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi said that the state had received Rs 3,578 crore on account of the rain disasters under various heads over the past three years. Out of this amount, the Central Government had contributed Rs 3,247 crore while the state government provided Rs 330 crore. The state got Rs 1,280 crore under the SDRF, Rs 355 crore under the SDMF and Rs 1,790 crore under the NDRF, he added.

Negi said that over Rs 403 crore was disbursed to 70,787 affected people over the past three years. “The BJP left the House to escape a discussion on the matter. It doesn’t want to listen to the reply,” he alleged.

To Shahpur Congress MLA Kewal Singh Pathania’s question, the Chief Minister said that the government had earned Rs 500 crore interest on the fixed deposits done by various departments in banks. He added that directions had been issued to the administrative secretaries to see how several inoperative accounts of the government could be made functional.