Chandigarh: Senior Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda on Wednesday said that the state’s debt has increased five times, unemployment three times and crime two times in nine years of the BJP tenure, compared to his party's rule.
Hooda told the media here the government was "running away" from its responsibilities throughout the Assembly session that concluded on Tuesday.
The government deliberately kept the session short to escape answering difficult questions, he alleged.
"Before the Assembly session, employees demanded OPS (old pension scheme), ASHA workers increased honorarium, farmers compensation and ad hoc employees demanded employment security. Sarpanches, panchayat members, Zila Parishad members, contract teacher associations, temporary employees, traders, sportspersons, representatives of Dalits and backward classes each had submitted memorandums regarding their demands. Congress MLAs had moved proposals for discussions and asked questions in the Assembly to discuss all their issues, but the government refused to answer," the Congress leader said.
The government had deliberately kept the duration of the assembly session short to evade accountability, he said.
On unemployment, Hooda said the Central government had admitted in Parliament that unemployment has increased three times after the formation of the BJP government in Haryana.
"Now Haryana’s BJP-JJP government in the Assembly also had to admit the unemployment rate in the state has reached 8.8 per cent. The unemployment rate, which was 2.9 per cent during the Congress government in 2013-14, has reached around nine per cent today.
"The unemployment rate at the national level is 4.1 per cent. This means unemployment in Haryana is more than double the national average," he noted.
The two-time Chief Minister said 2.02 lakh government posts have been vacant in various departments, but instead of making recruitments, the government is carrying out scams like paper leak.
"The government is continuously playing with the future of the youth by allowing a series of scams in CET (common eligibility test)," he said.
Hooda also said unemployment in Haryana has now turning fatal for the youth.
"According to government’s own figures, 12 unemployed youths have committed suicide since 2014. There is also a bitter truth that lakhs of unemployed youths are getting hooked to drugs and crime owing to desperation," he said.
"Today, crime in the state has increased to such an extent that Haryana has been considered the most unsafe state in the country in the social progress index of the Central government. Such is the state of crime in Haryana that according to the NCRB statistics, there has been an increase of 96.02 per cent in the cases of crime against SCs from 2014 to 2021. Haryana has reached number six from number 15 in the country. The crime rate has doubled from 16.02 to 31.8," he said, while quoting government statistics.
The Leader of the Opposition said even in the Vidhan Sabha the government was seen evading reply on law and order and the Nuh violence.
"The Opposition had given notice for a discussion on this issue, which was also rejected citing the matter was sub-judice. The truth is that after the Nuh violence, the issue of bulldozers has reached the court. The Congress wanted a discussion on the increasing graph of violence and crime in the state," he added.
Hooda said the government also tried to mislead the House regarding Parivar Pechan Patra (PPP), property ID, and Lal Dora. "The government’s claim of abolishing Lal Dora is wrong, in reality it has not been abolished anywhere," he pointed out.
He said PPP has become a noose around the neck of the public and there are so many errors in the family identity card that it has not been able to create an identity for itself as yet.
—IANS