More jobs in other depts in coming months, promises Capt

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday promised more jobs in other departments in coming months as he handed over the appointment letters to 25 of 3,683 candidates recruited by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL). A total of 1,800 recruits got their appointment letters on Monday.

“Vacancies existed in other departments too, and would be filled up soon,” said the Chief Minister during the programme, which coincided with the first death anniversary of his mother Rajmata Mohinder Kaur.

Remembering his mother, Capt Amarinder recalled her words exhorting him to do something for the farmers and unemployed youth in the state. “I had promised my mother that I would do everything in my power to alleviate the farmers’ problems and to end unemployment,” said Capt Amarinder adding that as the Chief Minister, he had initiated various steps towards the fulfillment of his promises.

Blaming the “massive debt burden” inherited by his government with a mega fiscal mess, Capt Amarinder said that it would take time to resolve, yet the government was well on track toward the implementation of its farm debt waiver scheme, which would be completed by November this year.

On the employment front, the Chief Minister pointed out that so far, around 1.65 lakh youth had been provided jobs since his government took over. The government, he said, was focused on employability of youth in the higher and technical education institutions, and would continue to generate jobs in both the private and the public sectors.

Underlining his focus on industrial development, he stressed the need to promote investment in industry and service sector, pointing to various initiatives undertaken by his government, including power subsidy, to boost industry in the state.

These measures were already yielding results, as was evident from the fact that around 100 industrial units that had been closed down have now revived, he added.

The state government was providing annual power subsidy of Rs 1440 crores to the industry, while the free power cost for agriculture was approximately Rs 6,000 crores per year, said the Chief Minister, adding that power subsidy was also being provided to SC, BC, BPL and freedom fighters.

Responding to concerns expressed by the industry regarding reliability and quality of power supply, the Chief Minister asked the PSPCL to focus on providing uninterrupted power supply.

Capt Amarinder, referring to the 36-hour power cut in Zirakpur, said that it was pre-announced and had been planned to enable the department to upgrade the systems and augment the capacity to address the growing needs of the area, which had witnessed multifold population increase in recent years.