Bhopal: With an eye on the Assembly elections, due later this year, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has announced that it will recruit over 89,000 people in different departments over the next few months.
The announcement comes two days after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the retirement age of state government employees would be raised to 62 years from the current 60 years.
However, the move was opposed by the Congress and an outfit of the educated, unemployed youth, which had accused Chouhan of "deceiving" 1.5 crore educated, unemployed youth of the state by increasing the superannuating age.
The BJP dispensation's promise to recruit over 89,000 people is expected to blunt the criticism it has been facing from the Congress over the lack of government jobs in the election year.
According to data tabled in the Legislative Assembly recently, the BJP regime had employed only 19,226 people in different departments in the last 14 years, since it came to power in the state.
According to the data, on an average, 1,373 youth got government jobs per year during the said period.
"The government will employ more than 89,000 people in the next few months," a release issued by the state government yesterday stated.
It said 10,000 posts, including 9,500 positions of patwaris and 400 positions of naib tehsildars in the revenue department, would be filled in the next few months.
Posts of 60,000 teachers in the school education department and 1,300 doctors, 700 paramedical staff, 1,053 nurses and 500 ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife) in the urban areas in the health department would also be filled, the release added.
Besides, 8,000 people would be recruited in the police department, 4,000 in the home guards department, 4,000 in the women and child development department, it said.
However, the government did not mention the exact time-frame for filling the posts.