One job per family or Rs2,500 allowance: Cong poll deal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 29

The Punjab Congress today promised one job per household to matric pass youths aged between 18 and 35 years.

Till such employment is provided, an unemployment allowance of Rs 2,500 per month would be given for up to 36 months. The unemployment allowance would put a burden of Rs 2,500 crore annually, raising questions about the poll promise as the state is already reeling under a debt of Rs 1.38 lakh crore.

A similar promise made by the Akali Dal-BJP government to pay an allowance of Rs 1,000 per month to the unemployed remained unfulfilled.

Denying that funds crunch could impact the fulfillment of his promises, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh said the party was working on initiatives for revenue generation to ensure the fulfillment of promises.

The party claims that the funds of the unemployment allowance worked out to nearly 2 per cent of the Budget. The party has already promised 50 lakh free smartphones to youths at a cost of about Rs300-400 crore.

Meanwhile, under the “Har Ghar Ton Ikk Captain” campaign, all 600 ticket aspirants have been given registration kits with 100 forms each to initiate the process of training their workers. The ticket seekers will reach out to 10,000 youth each as part of the campaign. The first phase of the campaign will end on December 20.

The mass registration drive, which kicked off with the campaign, will see the applicants being provided a unique ID through a “berozgari bhatta card” which they can activate by sending an SMS on the number given on their card against which they will receive a code which they can scribble on their card.