Hyderabad: Pay jobless dole, avert layoffs in Telangana says Uttam

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Wednesday demanded that the State government start implementing the promised unemployment allowance for jobless youth, especially in view of lockdown due to Coronavirus situation.

"The unplanned lockdown by the Central and the State Governments has completely ruined the entire economy which was already under distress. Lakhs of jobs in both organised and unorganised sectors have been lost.

With just eight days left for the end of second phase of lockdown, the State government must come out with a comprehensive plan to revive the State economy," he said in a statement.

Uttam criticised Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for not taking any concrete measures to prevent the private sector from laying off employees. Many IT companies and SMEs have already have laid off thousands of employees and the State government could do nothing about it.

Similarly, many private companies are forcing the employees to take huge pay cut to stay on their jobs. "State government has only issued an advisory asking the private sector not to lay off employees and pay salaries for the lockdown. No proper order was issued prescribing action for those who violate the government directions," he said.

The State government has set a bad precedent by cutting down the salaries of employees for just one week of lockdown. He pointed out that in many foreign countries, the governments paid packages to private companies to enable them to pay salaries to their staff.

The TRS government must look at such a provision, he demanded. The TPCC chief feared that the number of unemployed youth in Telangana would more than double after the lockdown.

In addition to nearly 30 lakh unemployed youth, which included nearly 24 lakh registered with the Telangana State Public Service Commission, Telangana State is going to witness a huge increase in unemployment figures in the next few months.

Uttam demanded that the promised unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016 be given with immediate effect.