Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel affirmed his government’s commitment of according top priority to connecting youths with employment.

Addressing an online transfer programme of the fourth instalment of unemployment allowance for beneficiaries at Raipur on Monday, Baghel said: “It is a matter of pride that youths are being given skill development training and getting jobs continuously. I congratulate those youths who have received appointments today. Our government is committed to connect youths with skill-based employment and it remains a priority for our government.”

Significantly, Baghel transferred an amount of Rs 31.71 crore directly to the accounts of 1,22,625 beneficiaries of the state as the fourth instalment under the unemployment allowance scheme. An amount of Rs 112.43 crore has been paid so far in the accounts of the beneficiaries.

During the programme, the chief minister gave job offer letters to the trained beneficiaries of unemployment allowance.

He further informed that MoU has also been signed for Rs 1188.36 crore for the modernisation of 36 ITIs of the state after which the youth will be given training in six new technical trades as well as 23 short-term courses.

“We hope to train 10,000 youth every year. These youths will be employed in various industries. The youth should not face financial difficulties in the way of their progress, so we have done the work of providing unemployment allowance and giving them a big relief by waiving off the application fees in the competitive examinations of the public service commission,” said Baghel.

“Earlier the poor and lower middle-class youths could not fill the form for many examinations thinking that they would have to pay the application fee, but now their worry has been removed,” he said.

“As part of our effort of providing maximum employment to the youth, recruitment is going on for 41,000 government posts. We are going to fulfil our promises made to the youths. Skill development training is also being imparted to the youth to prepare them for employment and self-employment,” he added.

He compared that the previous governments had distributed Rs 98 crore as unemployment allowance in 13-14 years but claimed that his government has distributed over Rs 112 crore as unemployment allowance in four months.