Chandigarh: The Punjab assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution lauding chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) govt for “employment generation, transparent governance, and massive industrial growth”, even as opposition MLAs demanded a whitepaper from the govt on govt recruitments.This is the third resolution passed by the state assembly in as many days, with the earlier two resolutions being on paper leaks and E20 petrol.Introducing the resolution, AAP MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said since April 1, 2022, the AAP-led Punjab govt provided 68,228 govt jobs through a complete transparency, corruption-free, and merit-based. He added Punjab secured 9,899 investment proposals worth Rs 1,83,837 crore which were projected to generate 6,16,436 employment opportunities for youth across the state.Dhaliwal said 16,316 individuals were recruited in school education department, 14,723 in home affairs department, 8,706 power department, 5,681 persons in local govt department and 4,758 persons in health and family welfare department.Thousands of additional appointments were also made across vital sectors including revenue, medical education, water resources, agriculture, and others, he added.He said AAP govt had “permanently eliminated the decades-old culture of recommendations, political interference, and corruption in providing govt jobs” and “by prioritising merit over favouritism, the govt has restored the confidence of lakhs of Punjabi youth”.Before the resolution was passed, there was a heated exchange between treasury benches and the opposition, with Congress MLAs demanding a white paper on the recruitments and the governing AAP members trashing the demand.Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan had to intervene several times as there were repeated interruptions and noisy scenes. Sandhwan ordered some words to be expunged from the proceedings.Industries and commerce Minister Aman Arora challenged opposition MLAs to verify the govt’s recruitment claims by asking people in the gatherings in their constituencies to raise hands if they got the jobs. Arora said he was ready to accompany opposition MLAs and personally ask people to raise their hands if they or their family members had received govt jobs.He said he was willing to resign both as a minister and an MLA if people in any of those constituencies said they had not benefited from the recruitment drive. He added that opposition MLAs should resign if this was not the case.The challenge from Arora came after Congress MLA Hardev Singh Laddi said not a single elector from his constituency had benefited from the recruitment drive. AAP MLA Saravjit Kaur Manuke countered, saying that a woman named Jaswinder Kaur from a village in Laddi’s constituency was serving as a teacher in a govt school at Jagraon after being appointed by the state govt.She said if the MLA wished to verify the claim, she was ready to arrange a video call with the teacher immediately from the assembly itself.Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira questioned the resolution, saying it was not part of listed business of the house and members had little time to prepare. Claiming that govt had been citing different figures for the jobs provided over a period of time, Khaira demanded a white paper on govt recruitments.The white paper, he said, should specify every post filled, the selected candidate and their address, so that the claims could be independently verified. He alleged that in many recruitments, including those in PSPCL, clerical posts and schools, candidates from outside Punjab went on to secure jobs “because the state did not have a domicile requirement for govt jobs”.Khaira called for a “domicile law” in Punjab, arguing that several other states had adopted similar provisions to protect local employment. He warned the absence of such a framework could have long-term implications for Punjab’s demographic balance, language and culture.Questioning govt’s employment claims, Khaira said youth unemployment and frustration remained high and pointed to protests by MGNREGA and sanitation workers, teachers, and other employee groups seeking jobs, regularisation or age relaxation.Dakha MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali said recruitment should always remain merit-based, but he also raised concerns over domicile rules. He demanded details of the number of recruits who were from Punjab and other states. Ayali called for stronger safeguards to ensure Punjab’s youth were not deprived of employment opportunities.On the demand of a white paper, water resources minister Barinder Kumar Goyal said the govt was not bound to issue one and all records were available for all. Goyal said the govt had ended the earlier perception that recruitment required influence or money and had restored the confidence of students and parents that govt jobs could be secured honestly under the AAP govt.Responding to AAP’s ’ allegations that previous govts had taken money for jobs, Congress MLA Avtar Singh Junior demanded the govt to provide details of any employees who had allegedly secured jobs by paying bribes. He asked the govt to place on the table the names of such employees, details of the alleged payments, the persons accused of taking money, and information about any FIRs or action taken against those involved in the alleged recruitment processes.
