GUWAHATI: Opposition political parties and workers’ organisations are keeping an eye on the Union Budget to corner the government on job loss during the pandemic, if it fails to bring good news on employment generation.
Sources in the state labour department said since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, around 4.03 lakh local workers have been affected during lockdowns and various Covid curbs. Though many in the state lost their jobs, especially in the unorganised sector, another chunk of workers returned to other states from where they had come back to Assam in 2020-21 without financial support.
Assam PCC president Bhupen Borah has little expectations from the Union budget and said “double-engine government has failed to deliver. The Assam chief minister promised one lakh jobs by March, which will never be fulfilled. The BJP-led state government is struggling with the worst financial crisis and it has taken a loan of about Rs 8,000 crore. A government can create jobs and give livelihood only under sound financial health. How can we hope that the Union budget prepared by the same BJP-led government will bring positive news on livelihood or employment when the state government could not do anything in their departments which employ maximum people?” asked Borah.
He rued that people who returned from other states giving up their jobs, hardly got financial assistance to start dignified livelihood options in Assam.
"There are around 84,000 job vacancies in various state government departments. The government could not even fill up the posts of police on time," Borah rued. He alleged that returnee migrant workers, small industries, artists have been worst affected in the last two years and the Union and state Budgets disappointed them last year too.
The state labour department sent data of the affected unorganized workers to the Centre, according to instructions from the Union government. However, government sources said such people are knocking on the doors of the labour department offices for benefits. Disbursement of Rs 2,000 each to over two lakh construction workers as pandemic relief was released by the Building and Other Construction Welfare Board, Assam, but around 85 lakh of workers from other unorganized sectors, including agriculture workers, hardly got any financial relief from the government during the pandemic. The Assam government tackled the second wave without announcing a statewide lockdown but with micro-containment zones with greater accountability on supervisors at the microzones identified in areas with more Covid cases. Nevertheless, small and marginal businesses continued to suffer for months during and after the second wave.
"Shops and commercial establishments along with the private transport sector were badly hit. The roadside vendors suffered a lot even after the second wave but no budget could touch their lives. Let's see if there is anything in the Union budget for them," said Citu state general secretary Tapan Sarma.
