Srinagar, July 21: Senior vice president J&K Peoples Conference and former minister Abdul Gani Vakil on Wednesday urged the Central government to create ample employment opportunities for the youth of J&K, saying the drug abuse has reached an alarming level due to the increase in unemployment.
“To overcome this alarming situation, a comprehensive employment package for the unemployed youth of J&K is needed, which will definitely help channelize the energy of the youth in the right direction instead of becoming the prey of drug abuse,” he said in a statement issued here.
Vakil, as per the statement, was reacting to the recent revelation by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) in which it revealed that “for just 26,687 available posts, 26.22 lakh applications have been received”.
“This alarming situation of increasing unemployment in J&K needs immediate attention of the present dispensation to solve the burning unemployment problem, but it is unfortunate that LG admin and Central government are giving a deaf ear to present alarming situation,” he said.
He added, “The majority of those recruited till today have been from outside J&K, which is surprising given that J&K’s unemployment rate is already rising and this policy of LG administration to recruit people from outside J&K will definitely affect the future of the unemployed youth of J&K and thereby prospects of unemployed youth are dim to get employment in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The JKPC leader said the present dispensation must permanently cease recruiting people from outside J&K in order to address the unemployment problem and prevent discontentment among the youth. “Propriety also demands that any posts to be notified by Government of J&K should be filled entirely by unemployed youth of J&K as the youth of Jammu and Kashmir are worse sufferers of the last four decades of turmoil,” he said.