Srinagar, August 13:(KNS) Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Vice President and former MLC G N Monga today expressed serious concern over the decisions of the J&K government to abolish self-help-groups (SHGs) of engineers and to subsume engineering wings of various departments into Public Works Department (PWD), saying such decisions will only create more unemployment and create mess on the ground.
In a statement issued to KNS, he said thousands of young unemployed engineers earning their bread and butter by working through SHGs in various government departments will lose their source of livelihood due to the wrong decision of the J&K administration to abolish the SHG scheme.
“These SHGs were formed when Congress was in power in J&K in 2004 with an aim to create employment opportunities. The scheme not only provided employment to thousands of unemployed engineers, but it also contributed a great deal in the development of J&K as these engineers were technically sound to carry out developmental works,” Monga said.
“Now all of a sudden, the J&K government headed by the Lt Governor has decided to wind up this scheme without thinking about the future of these qualified engineers. The government must take back this anti-youth decision at the earliest,” the Congress leader demanded.
Similarly, he said, the J&K government’s decision to subsume engineering wings of various departments into PWD will create too much mess and confusion on the ground. “The amalgamation of all the engineering wings in the PWD will create too much confusion and many issues related to seniority, pay disparity, and other employee welfare measures would crop up subsequently.”
“It will also create joblessness besides the technical staff who are presently working in different departments are bound to face hierarchical issues in addition to the hiccups in their career progression,” Monga added.
He said that the J&K government should have consulted all the stakeholders for threadbare deliberations before arriving at such arbitrary decisions. “Instead of creating employment opportunities for the youth of J&K, the BJP government is snatching the livelihood of those who are already in job. They are pushing the youth of J&K to the wall which will have serious repercussions,” he added.(KNS)