Job fair: ‘Students being offered low wages’

CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday asked Punjab technical education minister Charanjit Channi to deliver jobs instead of insulting the students by telling them to accept placements lower than the minimum wages applicable in the state.

In a statement, SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema expressed shock at the way the state government was allowing companies to recruit students with technical diplomas and degrees at rates which were lower than the minimum wage prescribed in the state. “The job offers at the so-called Rozgar Mela, actually an annual placement drive appropriated by the state government for cheap publicity, ranged between Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000 per month,” he said.

Cheema said these job offers were a blatant violation of established norms which stipulated that semi-skilled labour force should be given a minimum compensation of Rs 321 per day and skilled manpower Rs 356 per day. The job applicants were being offered less than Rs 303 per day fixed for agriculture labour, he said, blaming the state government for the situation.

He said the Congress had raised the hopes of youth by promising ‘ghar ghar naukari’, but appropriated the routine placement drive of technical institutions without fixing norms.

Asking the state government to stop fooling the youth, the former minister said the government must explain the reasons for not filling vacancies in government jobs.