Shimla, August 25 (PTI) Heated scenes were witnessed in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday as the BJP members staged a walkout during Question Hour after Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania refused to allow supplementary questions on a query relating to vacant posts and employment.
The reply to the query consumed sufficient time, but the BJP members wanted to ask more questions, which the speaker refused to allow, maintaining that enough time had been devoted to a single question.
The BJP members then started raising slogans as the speaker continued with the Question Hour before staging a walkout from the House.
Replying to the main question raised by the BJP’s Jai Ram Thakur and Jeet Ram Katwal, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the government will fill the vacant posts on a need basis.
Sukhu also said the government is working on formulating a policy to secure the future of outsourced employees engaged in government departments, boards and corporations.
The chief minister pointed out that the vacant posts were not created only during the present government’s tenure but functional posts were not filled even under the previous BJP regime.
The chief minister also said that posts for paramedical staff in all medical colleges would be filled between March and June next year.
The government has modified the recruitment process for the Public Service Commission and the State Selection Commission by integrating marks obtained in the written test with those of interviews, Sukhu said.
However, providing jobs to everyone is not feasible, and the government has taken several steps towards self-employment, Sukhu said, citing the Rajiv Gandhi Startup Yojana as one of the measures.
He also said that vacant teaching positions in schools have been filled.
Referring to the health department, Sukhu said medical institutions were operating at 35 per cent occupancy under the previous government, which has increased to 65 per cent under the Congress government, with vacant posts of doctors being filled.
The chief minister also clarified that no funds have been received under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Yojana and financial assistance provided to fishermen was disbursed under the Rajiv Gandhi Matsya Yojana.
Katwal had inquired about the total number of vacancies across various departments over the past two years, up to November 30, 2024, and also sought details of jobs provided on contract and daily-wage basis.
He also sought information about schemes launched to foster self-employment among the state’s youth and the number of beneficiaries of such schemes.
Katwal claimed that 37 per cent posts are lying vacant in government departments while 57 per cent posts are vacant in the state electricity board.
Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur claimed that questions are not being answered promptly, and called for rectifying the practice.
Reminding the Congress of its promise to provide one lakh permanent jobs every year, he said that by now, four lakh jobs should have been provided in the four-year tenure of the government.
“However, 10,853 posts are presently vacant in the primary education department, 3,753 in the police department, 3,635 in the state electricity board, 2,768 in the PWD, 3,432 in the higher education department, 1,298 in the health department, while 517 posts are vacant in the Jal Shakti department,” Thakur claimed.
Responding to the figures cited by Thakur, Sukhu claimed that no recruitment was made during the previous BJP regime while the present government filled 1,350 police posts and initiated the process to recruit another 1,000.
The BJP members sought to ask more questions, but Speaker Pathania turned down the request, prompting the opposition members to stage a walkout.
Pathania said a discussion on employment has been scheduled under Rule 130, and assured the members that they could raise all their questions during that session.
He noted that more than 25 minutes had already been spent on a single question and that other questions needed to be taken up. PTI BPL ARI
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