First-time voters quiz Phagwara MLA on unemployment, nepotism in recruitments

PHAGWARA: As Phagwara MLA Som Parkash of BJP sought to reach out to the first-time voters and organized a special interaction with college girls, issues of unemployment, apprehensions about 'sifarish' (nepotism) in jobs and reservation emerged prominently. The programme, in which a few hundred girls participated, issues like 'sadak,' 'bijli' and 'paani' (road, electricity and water) did not at all figure in their questions pointed at the MLA.
Three students said though there was large scale unemployment, they were not sure if merit was considered in recruitments by the government. Som Parkash revealed that several persons approached him for 'sifarish' during recent recruitment of Punjab Police constables. "Though I did not say no to anybody bluntly, I politely told that only merit would help. However, the fact remains that politicians cannot help people in the recruitments. There has been no legal challenge to the recruitments in all these years," he said.
To convince the students he also cited example of former Haryana chief minster Om Parkash Chautala saying that he and his son were languishing in jail for a job scam and no politician would take such a risk.