YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, in an open letter to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, has said that the TDP government owes ₹66,000 to each unemployed youth in the State.
In the run-up to the elections in 2014, the TDP had promised to provide each of the 1.75 crore unemployed youths a monthly allowance of ₹2,000.
The TDP has been in power for 33 months now, and the total outstanding amount due to the youth works out to be ₹1.15 lakh crore. Budgetary allocation should be made for payment of the entire amount to the unemployed youth in the 2017-18 budget, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy said.
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Enclosed with the two-page letter written in Telugu was a pamphlet released by Mr. Naidu at the time of the elections in June 2014.
Stating that he had tried to remind Mr. Naidu of his promise to youth on various platforms, Mr. Jagan said: “Thirty-three months have passed since the Telugu Desam came to power, and there are no efforts whatsoever by the government to pay the youth the unemployment allowance.”
Mr. Jagan said that he was forced to write the letter as the government seemed to be least concerned despite the hardship people were facing.
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The way jobs had been promised to the youth was also mentioned in the letter.
‘No improvement’
“Unfortunately, there is absolutely no improvement in the employment scenario in the State since then,” he said in the letter.
A large number of people were migrating to other States in search of livelihood. Unemployment and dissatisfaction among the youth were not good for society, he said.
“Along with the youth, gross injustice has been done to farmers using the Kotaiah Committee as a pretext,” the opposition leader said in the letter.
“This letter is not a wish list. It is just a reminder of the promises you have made at the time of the elections,” Mr. Jagan said, and demanded that provision be made in the ensuing budget for payment of the allowance.