Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today gave nod for launching a ‘Special Drive’ to fill the entire backlog of vacancies belonging to the Schedule Castes in the state.A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the Chief Minister with a delegation of Gazetted and Non-Gazetted SC/BC Employees Welfare Federation Punjab jointly led by its Chairman . Jasbir Singh Pal and President Balraj Kumar, here at Punjab Bhawan this evening.Taking part in deliberations the Chief Minister reiterated the firm commitment of the state government to ensure the welfare of the weaker and underprivileged sections of the society. He said that the state government was duty bound to ensure that the back log of the jobs for the schedule castes in the state was filled so as to give adequate representation to them in the government sector besides opening new vistas of employment for them. Mr. Badal asked the Welfare department to immediately compile the entire data of the existing backlog of this quota in every department so that the process of filing these vacancies could be set in motion at the earliest.
The Chief Minister also said that the work of compiling this data must be undertaken diligently and meticulously so that the rights of this stratum of society could be safeguarded. He asked the officers to submit the entire data soon so that the process of starting a special drive could be started forthwith. “Any sort of negligence or complacency on part of any department will amount to denial of rights to SC brethren, which will not be tolerated at any cost”, added Mr.Badal.
The Chief Minister also assured the delegation that no stone was being left unturned for ensuring the well being of SC brethren in the state. He said that the state government has already earmarked the Special Component Plan for SCs in accordance to the ratio of their population adding that currently the state has earmarked 32% of the total sub plan outlay for special component plan. Mr.Badal also announced that the state government would look into all the genuine demands of SC employees sympathetically.
Prominent amongst other present in the meeting included Principal secretary to Chief Minister Mr. SK Sandhu, Principal Secretary Education Mr. C Roul, Secretary Welfare Mrs. Seema jain, Secretary Personnel Mr. Vikas Partap, Special Secretary, Department of Personnel Mrs. Gurpreet Sapra and Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Mrs. Alaknanda Dayal.The other members of delegation of Gazetted and Non-Gazetted SC/BC Employees Welfare Federation Punjab included Mr. Gurbaksh Singh, Mr. Jagir Singh, Mr. Kulwant Singh, Mr. Mohan Singh, Mr. Satwant Toor, Mr. Kishan Lal and Mr. Malkiat Singh.