Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 24: Former minister and senior National Conference (NC) leader Ajay Kumar Sadhotra today sought a special employment drive for the Kandi belts of Bhalwal area in Jammu North Assembly constituency.
“Given the economic conditions of the area, a special dispensation is called for to assuage the aspirations of the youth, who are hankering from pillar to post for jobs,” Sadhotra said while addressing a public meeting at Keran in Jammu North Assembly constituency. The meeting was presided over by Charan Dass Bhagat alias Bapu Ji.
Sadhotra also sought regularization of daily wagers, contractual and seasonal workers in PHE and other departments and wings of engineering department, saying justice delayed to them is denial of their due as many of them have put in more than two decades in service awaiting regularization.
He recalled the initiatives taken by the Omar Abdullah led Government towards regularization of daily wagers after verifying 64,000 such cases for regularization in phased manner, which could not be cleared due to Model Code Conduct in 2014. He regretted that no forward movement has taken place since then, compelling the eligible candidates to take to streets for justice.
The former minister urged the present dispensation to take call on the issue of regularization of different segments of workers as envisaged in the exercise carried out by the then government which entailed just physical verification of those to be regularized. This will not be a favour to them but undoing of long standing injustice, he maintained.
Sadhotra said that BJP has miserably failed on all fronts and the burgeoning unemployment problem with scams and frauds hitting the future of youth, rising prices and deteriorating utility services are an offshoot of the anti-people policies of the double engine government.
Prominent among those who spoke and present on the occasion were Surinder Kumar, Ghar Singh (Corporator), Raghubir Singh Manhas (district president), Rakesh Sharma (district youth president), Joginder Lal, Tilak Raj Bhagat, Subhash Bhagat, BD Thapa, Rattan Lal Malhotra, Ankush Abrol (provincial joint secretary), Dr Vikas Sharma, Kartar Chand Bhagat, Bhagwan Dass, Harshwardan Singh (NCSUI president) and Kartik Bhagat.