Subordinate service board to be back: CM

CHANDIGARH: The state government has decided to reconstitute the Punjab Subordinate Service Selection Board (PSSSB) soon for recruitment to vacant posts in government departments, said chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh in the Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday. He was replying to a question asked by Congress MLA Angad Singh during Question Hour on 57 vacant posts of clerk in the deputy commissioner’s office at Nawanshahr.

The discussion also saw Amarinder and leader of opposition Sukhpal Khaira take digs at each other. When the CM replied that the vacancies would be filled next year, Khaira questioned the government’s move to hold mega job fairs. “What is the point of these fairs? How many of the jobs being given at these fairs are in the government?” he asked, seeking an explanation on abolition of the board. Taking a dig at Khaira, Amarinder quipped that “little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. He said the government had generated more than 1.61 lakh jobs in the state since taking over. “There are around 757 posts of clerks lying vacant, which the government will soon fill,” he added.

ITI IN EACH BLOCK

Technical education minister Charanjit Singh Channi announced that the government will set up an industrial training institute (ITI) in each block of the state. “A decision has been taken on this. We will now pursue the matter with the central government,” he said while responding to Bhoa MLA Joginder Pal’s query on bringing ITI of Bamial under the National Council on Vocational Training (NCVT) for the benefit of students of the border area. The minister said four courses were already running under NCVT and the remaining seven would be covered soon.

While Kotkapura MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan raised the issue of shortage of faculty, Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu stressed the need for an ITI for Khizrabad-Majri block having 50-60 villages.

Khaira, on the other hand, said that the ITI at Maksudpur in his Bholath constituency was lying defunct. “The ITIs have infrastructure, but are nonfunctional. The government needs to conduct a study of the existing institutes,” he said, calling them white elephants.

Channi responded by asking Khaira and Sandhu, both from the Aam Aadmi Party, to consult each other first. “Kanwar Sandhu wants ITI in his constituency, whereas Khaira does not want new ones,” he said.

SHAGUN FUND DELAY

The government also faced tough questions over the delay in release of money to beneficiaries under the Shagun (now known as Ashirwad) Scheme. In a written reply to SAD MLA Bikram Singh Majithia’s question regarding amount disbursed under the scheme at the time of marriage of women from the economically weaker sections, welfare minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot said the benefit has been given to all beneficiaries up to March 2017 and payment would be made at the earliest for the subsequent period.