Navjot Sidhu vows assured job plan for urban poor

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 17

PCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said under his ‘Punjab Model’, an urban employment guarantee mission, on the lines of the MGNREGA for rural areas, will focus on skilled and unskilled labour.

At a press briefing, the PCC president said his mission envisaged right to employment for all individuals in the urban areas. The benefits of social security must reach the poorest of the poor in the urban areas and not only those who were already getting it, said Sidhu.

Pointing towards the “precarious position” of unorganised workers in Punjab, he said due to lack of registration, labourers could not receive benefits of targeted schemes.

“Unorganised workers are far from getting social security benefits such as casual and sick leave, and labour welfare programmes run by the government,” said Sidhu, as he promised to bring out a roadmap where unorganised workers could easily get themselves registered and avail of government benefits.

The PCC chief raised concern over the construction cess collected by the government not reaching the beneficiaries due to non-registration of most of the labourers.

Asked about the party leadership incorporating his ‘Punjab Model’ in the manifesto, the PCC chief said the state affairs incharge Harish Chaudhary had talked about the model. “It has to be approved by Rahul Gandhi and the party manifesto committee,” he said, adding if not approved, there will be “course of action”.

“Agendas can’t go unfulfilled this time. Not like the 5,000 made in the last elections. There has to be a mechanism. I have been raising voice against those in power and outside,” he said.

The PCC chief said as per the Food Security Act, 2013, 67 per cent of the population should be covered under the public distribution system. While all labourers fell under the category, most did not have BPL cards, he added.

Ducks queries on DGP; uses cuss word

Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday seemed upbeat but refused to reply to queries on sand mining and replacement of the DGP. He also deflected queries against the government. Meanwhile, a video of Sidhu using a cuss word during the press conference went viral on the social media.

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