Farmers Movement Archive

Jobs to 2 MLAs’ sons: Nine ministers and 4 Congress MPs back Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh's decision

CHANDIGARH: Coming in defence of CM Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government, under fire for giving government jobs to sons of two sitting legislators of the Congress party, senior party leaders backed the decision and slammed critics for failing to appreciate a state policy that had been in force for many years now. They termed the collective decision of the cabinet to give government jobs to sons of sitting MLAs as “correct and in line with appointments done in the past”. The leaders stated that when other similarly placed persons were being regularly given benefits under the state policy it would be “unfair to discriminate” against the children of MLAs simply because their fathers are holding such positions. The Punjab cabinet on June 19 had approved jobs to sons of Fatehjung Singh Bajwa and Rakesh Pandey, kicking off a political storm. The move was opposed by cabinet ministers Charanjeet Singh Channi, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbir Singh Sarkaria, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Razia Sultana, besides PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar, and MLAs Kuljit Singh Nagra and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring. In a joint statement issued by ministers Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Vijay Inder Singla, Aruna Chaudhary, Sunder Sham Arora, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Balbir Singh Sidhu, O P Soni and Bharat Bhushan Ashu, and MPs Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Jasbir Singh Dimpa and Mohammad Sadiq, it was pointed out that Punjab had always been a welfare state and it had been giving jobs to various classes of persons keeping in view the hardship faced by them as a result of unforeseen and tragic circumstances. Apart from terrorist-affected families, jobs and/or financial assistance had been given to handicapped persons, rape victims and the families of 1984 riot victims, defence personnel killed in action, and government employees who die in harness, to name a few. Lal Singh, chairman of Punjab Mandi Board, also came out strongly in support of the decision and advised all political leaders of the Congress to refrain from making any statement that could potentially weaken the party. Giving details of appointments given in the past to families of terrorist-affected victims, the leaders pointed out that there were at present at least five such officers in the IAS cadre of Punjab who had originally been appointed to the Punjab Civil Service (executive) on these grounds. They quoted cases of the department of excise and taxation where 108 jobs, including two ETOs, had been given to the victims on these grounds. Similarly, six terrorist victims had been appointed as naib tehsildar and many other victims had been given significant appointments in other departments and continue to serve on senior positions in the state. Petrol pumps, ration depots and other self-employment avenues have also been provided on priority to such families. The victims of the 1984 Sikh riots have also been given similar benefits in addition to financial aid, they said. They said in the last four years, 72 next of kin of defence and paramilitary personnel who died in line of duty, had been given jobs, including PCS (executive) allied services like tehsildar, ETO, assistant registrar cooperative societies, etc. Another 10 persons are being called for interviews shortly, while nine families have reserved the jobs for their minor children. Financial assistance of Rs 50 lakh is also being given as a mark of respect and gratitude to these families. Even in recent farmers agitation against the central farm laws, the state government has assured a job to each of the families of the farmers who have died during the agitation, and the process of providing these is already underway, they said. Financial assistance is also being extended to all such families. The leaders said people critical of the move had lost sight of the fact that a job of DSP was given to the grandson of Beant Singh, former chief minister, who was assassinated by terrorists while a job of naib tehsildar was given to the wife of late MLA Baldev Singh. Citing additional examples, they said after assassination of DIG A S Atwal in 1983, his wife was appointed to the PCS (executive). Subsequently, his son was given a job of inspector in the Punjab Police. In the present case, Fatehjung Singh Bajwa was a minor when the tragic incident occurred, in which he lost his father, while Rakesh Pandey was incapacitated by an accident which did not allow him to take up employment under the state government. “It is perfectly justified that their children should be offered these jobs,” they said. The leaders stated the Congress government had accorded top priority to Ghar Ghar Rozgar Te Karobar Mission, which had facilitated employment for about 17.6 lakh youth, of which 62,743 persons had been provided government jobs, 9.97 lakh persons had been assisted in self-employment and 7,01,804 private sector jobs had been facilitated. The government has already initiated the process for filling up an additional 1 lakh government jobs, they said. The CM also defended the decision of the cabinet by observing that one could not allow sacrifices to go waste while reiterating that the Punjab government would continue to recognise each such contribution to the state’s peace and harmony.

The Times of India

2021-06-21

Chandigarh