Chandigarh, Aug 13 (PTI) Haryana Congress president Rao Narender Singh on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the BJP government over the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN), alleging that the body, established to provide employment to youth and to end the contract system, has become a means of insecurity and exploitation.
He claimed the government made tall claims, promising ‘equal pay for equal work’ and better facilities for employees, but the ground reality is completely different, he said.
Notably, the HKRN, established in 2021 and began functioning in 2022, provides contractual manpower to all government departments in the state.
The Congress leader also claimed the employment figures released by the government were false and that the BJP did not fulfil its promise of providing around 1.20 lakh as per its 2024 election manifesto.
“By February 2026, around 14.63 lakh youth had registered with HKRN, while only 1.13 lakh people had been deployed. Of these, 97,051 were employees who were already working. Therefore, the actual number of new jobs being created is extremely low compared with the employment figures being projected by the government,” he said. Singh claimed that the number of new employments was only 7,367 in 2024, 1,034 in 2025 and just 66 so far in 2026.
“These figures clearly show that despite millions of registered youth, the government has completely failed to provide employment,” he said.
The Congress leader said that presenting the limited deployments in departments such as Public Health, Education and Health as large-scale employment generation is nothing more than misleading the youth.
Singh announced that a dharna and protest would be held on August 19 outside the HKRN office under the ‘Yuvaon Ki Goonj’ campaign, with Congress MLA Ashok Arora being the convenor.
Senior Congress leaders, MPs, MLAs, district and block presidents, along with a large number of employees and unemployed youth, will participate in the protest, he said.
He said that just as Rahul Gandhi has strongly raised the voice of students and youth across the country, Haryana Congress will also continue its struggle for employment, dignity and social security for the state’s youth, from the streets to the State Assembly.
Congress MLA Aditya Surjewala questioned the HKRN figures, saying that despite 14.63 lakh youth registering by February 2026, only 1.13 lakh people had been employed.
“Even among them, 97,051 were already working employees,” Surjewala said, claiming that HKRN employees were given a ‘deployment letter’ instead of permanent appointment letters.
Surjewala asked the government how much money had been collected department-wise through the 1 per cent service charge charged from employees since 2022 and where it was spent.
He demanded that the government make a department-wise white paper public. “A large number of temporary employees were regularised during the Congress government’s tenure. HKRN employees should also be provided job security on the same lines, the Congress leader said.
Surjewala said the government has repeatedly made tall claims about job security, but by May 2026, not a single HKRN employee had received the actual benefit of job security.
He asked the government why the benefit had not reached employees if the law had already been enacted.
Surjewala took a dig at the government’s online process, saying employees were initially asked to get their documents and papers verified in their respective departments. “Later, the government created a portal, but its condition is such that the server is down in some places, login does not work in others, and OTPs are not being received elsewhere,” he said.
Congress leaders demanded that the government conduct regular recruitment against sanctioned posts and create permanent positions and regularise employees who have been working for a long period.
Rao Narender Singh also attacked the state government over the ‘deteriorating’ law-and-order situation in Haryana.
He alleged that frequent reports of crime have created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity among the people of the state. News of murders, violence and other serious criminal incidents is emerging almost every day, he said.
He demanded that the government take concrete and effective steps to improve law and order. PTI SUN KSI KSI
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