Shillong, Oct 22: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has expressed concern over unemployment in Meghalaya.
The BJP president, Ernest Mawrie said even after 50 years of statehood, many governments have not been able to generate sufficient employment opportunities for the youth of the state.
He said the government’s view has always been myopic and government policies have failed to look at the holistic picture of the state. Elected leaders have continuously failed as policy makers.
Mawrie thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching the ‘Raozgar Mela’ under which 10 lakh central government jobs will be provided to youth.
He expressed confidence that the youth of Meghalaya will also benefit much from the scheme.
Mawrie said pragmatic policies could have generated new jobs in Meghalaya as well. But instead the state failed to fill even the existing vacancies. A recent news report claiming that an RTI has revealed that more than 8000 positions are lying vacant in various departments of the state government, has raised red flags within the party.
Mawrie reiterated that Meghalaya needed a BJP-led government which would focus on turning Meghalaya into a revenue-generating state, making it self-reliant and providing new avenues for employment.
Recently, an NGO had taken out a rally to highlight the problem of unemployment.
Mawrie said the grievances highlighted by the NGO resonated with the BJP.
He agreed that the local youth should find a space in the private sector as well.
Mawrie also proposed that effective steps should be taken to further increase the employability of local youth.
The BJP is preparing a ‘100 days priority programme’ that it will implement immediately after coming to power in the state.
