Haryana govt's job reservation plan nothing new, it existed during Cong regime: Hooda

As the BJP-JJP government in Haryana plans to reserve 75 per cent of private sector jobs for local candidates, former chief minister B S Hooda on Tuesday described the move as an "eyewash".

He such a provision was already in place when the Congress was in power and there was nothing new in the proposal.

The draft of the ordinance was cleared by the state cabinet on Monday.

Providing 75 per cent reservation in private sector jobs to the youth of the state was a key poll promise of Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janta Party, which is the coalition partner of the BJP.

“They have now created a new slogan of providing 75 per cent reservation in private jobs. Truth is that such a provision has been in force since 2011 in Haryana when the Congress was in power,” Hooda told reporters at his residence here.

“We want to ask the government why this has not been implemented in the last six years,” he said.

“This move is just an eyewash,” Hooda claimed.

“There is nothing new in what they are saying, it is just to mislead people. Their provision will be for new employment and everyone knows that no new factories are going to come up. Whereas, during our time, it was part of the condition for allotment of a plot. Our provision was much stronger than their proposed ordinance,” he added.

Hooda, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, said the Khattar government has been making tall claims about bringing investments without anything concrete on the ground.

“The youth has suffered because investments in the state have completely collapsed and there are hardly any new jobs that are coming up,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, who addressed a separate news conference digitally, dubbed the Khattar government's proposed move as a “lollypop” to befool the youth of Haryana.

Hooda and Surjewala also slammed the Haryana government's decision to freeze the dearness allowance (DA) of its employees and dearness relief of the pensioners at the current rates till July next year.

Surjewala said the Khattar government claims to provide a congenial and industry-friendly environment, but the truth is that many industrial units have shifted out.

“Chief Minister Khattar claims that Rs 20 lakh crore worth investment has firmed up during six years but one can see nothing on the ground, so therefore, there claims of reserving 75 jobs for local youth is another such policy of theirs which is not going to benefit anyone,” said Surjewala.

Surjewala demanded immediate withdrawal of the Haryana government's July 6, 2020 order freezing the DA/DR of state government employees and pensioners.

He said there are 3 lakh government employees and 1.29 lakh pensioners in the state and wondered despite an annual budget of over Rs 36,000 crore for paying salaries and pension to its employees, the ruling dispensation was shying away from its moral duty to meet these committed expenses.

Surjewala slammed the alleged misplaced priorities of Khattar Government, saying, “It has been increasing the allowances of ministers and buying new high-end cars for ministers/officers, but the employees and pensioners, who are already battling the coronavirus pandemic are being made to suffer the deduction in DA/DR.” On the DA issue, Hooda said, “This shows the anti-employees mindset of this government.” 

Image Credits: PTI