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WITH the ruling Congress having discriminated against the twin districts of Solan and Sirmaur by according no cabinet berth to the area, voters have been feeling let down. This, despite the fact that all six MLAs of the ruling Congress are senior legislators who have won three to five elections. Posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker were allotted to these two districts but the absence of any cabinet minister has failed to enthuse the masses. Congressmen are harping on the issue of large-scale development carried out by them in the sphere of tourism, horticulture, irrigation and employment to the youth. Speaker G.R. Musafir, while terming these issues as Congress’ trump card, says: "Our government has endeavoured to create maximum job opportunities for the youth by way of industrial and infrastructure development." The masses feel the government could not do much on crucial issues — provision of basic amenities like water, sewerage, sanitation and availability of adequate job opportunities for the educated youth. Despite tall claims of having generated about 3.70 lakh jobs, merely 36,000 jobs were granted to the youth and that too at lower and middle-rung positions. The poor in Sirmaur were further disenchanted with the fact that the Rozgaar Guarantee Yojna had not been able to provide them jobs for 100 days as promised by the Union Government. The BJP, in turn, has been seeking votes on the agenda of discrimination. The BJP’s vice-president and local MLA from Solan, Dr Rajiv Bindal, asserted, "It is highly unjust to deprive residents of 16 panchayats from benefits accruing from the Rs 57-crore Giri water scheme. With no improvement in civic amenities, parking facilities and road upkeep, the area faced the worst discrimination under Congress rule. Even the much-hyped expansion of the marketing committee failed to take place, thereby putting agriculturists to hardship."
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