Break your silence on high unemployment rate in Punjab: SAD to Amarinder

The Shiromani Akali Dal today asked the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to break his silence on facts presented in the Economic Survey which has made it clear that unemployment rate in the state is more than the national average.

In a statement released here today, the SAD Spokesman and Former Education Minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said that it is surprising that Captain Amarinder tried to mislead the state assembly and people of the state by fudging figures on employment.

He said that by resorting to the renaming of job fairs of private colleges as government job melas, this government is trying to befool itself as people already know that these fairs are a routine process in educational institutions.

Dr Cheema said that it is most unfortunate to note that ill planning of the Congress government is ruining the youth of the state and farming community is being forced to sell their lands to fund the education of their children abroad.

He said that contrary to the claims of the government on providing jobs to 12 lakh youth, the official figures given in the Economic Survey of the state belies the claims of the government. He said that 2.69 lakh applicants have registered with Unemployment Bureau in 2019 out of which 85 per cent are educated up to Class X and 91 per cent are categorized as skilled. He said that this sorry state of affairs is forcing children to move abroad in countries like Canada, Australia, the US and UK.

The SAD leader said that the scheme of the government 'Own your Gaddi' has totally failed in the state as the Congress government has failed to explore the tourism potential of the state leading to the low demand for such vehicles and ultimately failure of the scheme.

He said that before taking a decision to reduce retirement age to 58 years, the government should have initiated the process to fulfill the existing sanctioned posts which are lying vacant in large numbers in different departments.

Dr Cheema further said that the Congress government should admit its failure on providing jobs to the youth and instead of enacting dramas should seriously start working on providing jobs to the youth keeping in view their educational standards. He said that only this can stop the exodus of youth to other countries.