Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday opposed the changes in the government regulations for Haryana domicile that has reduced the time period needed to get domicile of the State.
Expressing objection to the changes in the Haryana domicile rules, Mr. Hooda said the decision would adversely impact the interests of people of the State. “Reducing the condition of 15 years for domicile to 5 years is an attack on the rights of the people of Haryana. This will especially cause huge loss to SC and OBC categories as the reserved categories will have to face much tougher competition for employment than before,” he said at a press conference here.
“It will become more difficult for the people of Haryana to find jobs, who are already facing highest unemployment in the country. Through 5 years domicile, the BJP-JJP government wants to change the demography of Haryana, so that the rights of the local people can be curtailed. The government is saying that the relaxation in the condition of 15 years has been given only for jobs in the private sector, but this is not the reality as there is no such provision in the newly created domicile certificate. It can be used for all welfare schemes including job to old age, widow, disabled, destitute pension, scholarship, ration. The former Chief Minister said that on one hand, the government gives the slogan of ‘Haryana Ek-Haryanvi Ek’, on the other hand, it makes a policy of robbing the rights of local Haryanvis,” he said.
The former Chief Minister said he was not opposed to people from other States coming to Haryana for business or employment, but it becomes the responsibility of the State government to ensure that the interests of the local people can be protected. “All the States have made a 15-year rule for domicile to protect the rights of the SCs and BCs class of their State,” he said.
Meanwhile, Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja criticised the BJP-JJP government’s decision of reducing the legal age limit for alcohol drinking from 25 years to 21 years, terming it absolutely wrong.
Mr. Selja said that the government was engaged in issuing hysterical orders to divert the attention of people from the issues. “On one hand the State government was promoting campaigns to eliminate drugs and on the other hand, it was giving the right to drink alcohol to 21-year-old youth. Due to the wrong policies of the government, Haryana today ranks first in the country in terms of unemployment and every third graduate of the State was roaming unemployed. Cases of continuous paper leaks and job scams were ruining the dream of government job of hardworking youth,” she alleged.
