Gujarat stands fifth in providing jobs and not first: Cong

Alleging that Gujarat government is misleading people with false claims about providing jobs, the Congress here today claimed that the state actually ranks fifth among all states in generating employment and not number one as claimed by the government.
"During the budget session recently, Gujarat state energy minister Saurabh Patel announced that Gujarat ranked number one in providing employment in India. However, according to a latest report by Union Labour and Employment ministry, Gujarat ranks fifth in India. So, on what grounds did Patel boast about Gujarat being number one in providing jobs," Congress leader and MLA Shailesh Parmar questioned here today during a press conference.

Citing a Central government report, Parmar claimed that Maharashtra ranks first, followed by Andhra Pardesh, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Gujarat.
Parmar also blamed state government for causing damage to the state assets worth crores by not filling up vacant government posts to handle the assets.
He alleged that people in Gujarat suffer because of staff shortage in all state government departments, including health, education and the police.
"According to the latest Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report, the Gujarat state government saved Rs 745 crore by not filling up vacant posts. This is not saving, but mismanagement, since money was meant for salaries. It was not paid because 2.77 lakh government posts are lying vacant in various departments at present," Parmar claimed.

The Congress MLA claimed that there are total 7.5 lakh educated youth registered with all employment exchanges in Gujarat, including 1.10 lakh qualified engineers.
"On one hand, the Gujarat government is not keen to fill up posts, while on the other hand, lakhs of educated youth are deprived of employment. As per census data of 2011, 59 per cent people in Gujarat are unemployed. We demand that that the Gujarat government must do something to improve this situation," Parmar said.