If we win polls, education department will hire 55,000 people in 3 years: Assam CM

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said if the BJP returns to power after the assembly polls, the state’s education department will hire 55,000 people over the next three years.

During the Motion of Thanks on the governor's address in the assembly, Sarma said his government has already hired 1.59 lakh people in the last five years against its "promise of one lakh jobs".

The BJP had promised to provide one lakh government jobs every year in Assam during campaigning for the 2021 assembly polls, but later clarified that the figure was for the entire five-year tenure.

"When our next government will come after the elections, the education department will immediately start working to give 55,000 jobs in the next three years. We are presently doing the assessment for other departments, too," Sarma said.

He said that a committee has been formed to prepare a five-year roadmap for providing the maximum possible government jobs to the state's youths.

Assembly election are due in Assam in a few months.

"I had promised to give one lakh government jobs in five years. The earlier governments never gave more than 25,000 jobs, and 10,000 of them would end up in court cases.

"We gave 1.59 lakh jobs in the last five years, and I believe another 5,000 will get appointment in the education department before the polls. So, there will be around 1.65 lakh jobs in my tenure," Sarma said.

He claimed that despite so many people getting government jobs, not a single case has been filed, challenging the hiring process or alleging corruption.

"There was highest standard of transparency in the recruitment process. What the (opposition) politicians said, the people presented a different picture. Unless the system is cleaned, corruption cannot be eliminated. And, we cleaned the system," the CM asserted.

Talking about the outflow of workforce from the state, Sarma said if Rs 20 lakh crore investment can be attracted in the next 20 years, enough jobs will be created here, and “no one will require to go to other states for employment”.

"The Tata semiconductor plant has put Assam on the global map. On February 28, around 20 Japanese companies will visit Assam to explore investment opportunities.

"Adani, Ambani, Hinduja, Tata, Jindal create jobs. If we return these job creators out of the state, our youths will continue to go outside Assam," he said.

Sarma added that without compromising biodiversity, green cover and transparency, the government needs to create an atmosphere of industrialisation.