GANGTOK: Former Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling on Sunday held the state government responsible for rising unemployment in the state.
The SDF president said that while the Sikkim’s unemployment rate has climbed, the government has failed to create jobs.
In a statement released on Sunday, Chamling said Sikkim has been ranked 4th in the country in terms of unemployment.
“For Sikkim, with a population of around seven lakh, to rank 4th in unemployment rate with 20.7 per cent is an alarming reality.
“The unemployment rate of 2.1 per cent in 2019 under the SDF government has increased to 20.7 per cent in 2023 under the SKM government,” said Chamling adding that these figures were generated by national agencies and not the opposition SDF.
He added that the unemployment rate reflects a government failure.
Chamling blamed the SKM government’s lack of policy to address the increasing unemployment problem in Sikkim and accused it of ignoring the plight of common people while benefiting a few alleged business partners of Chief Minister P S Golay.
“The SKM government’s crony capitalism has created massive economic discrepancies. This government has diverted almost 60-70 per cent of the state budget to big projects only to benefit a few business partners of the Chief Minister.
“The SKM government has also diverted the revenue generated by selling all of the government’s assets and properties to help their business partners.
“They are minting crores of rupees in the name of these projects.
“Their families and close aides have become crorepati and arabpatis. Their income has increased 300-500 times in the last four years but the benefit to the common people of Sikkim is zero,” Chamling’s statement read.
He also accused influential SKM leaders including present Sikkim Chief Minister P S Golay and his family members, ministers and MLAs of filling vacant government posts with their close relatives through the backdoor.
Chamling further said, “Golay has no idea about employment generation and job vacancy creation.
“He has completely failed to formulate policies that lead to the creation of job avenues. He thinks that a job is some kind of sweet in his pocket that he can distribute to whoever he likes.
“A few harassed and struggling individuals to whom he gives appointments for his social media shoots are used as bait for his political propaganda.
“His team will shoot a few videos of Golay verbally promising to give a government job and signing on the petition letter.
“How silly! That’s not how the government is run.
“That is not how unemployment problems are addressed. He is making himself a joker.
“The educated youth are laughing. The future generations will laugh at us for choosing such a leader to head our government,” he also said.
Likewise, he alleged that a huge amount of money meant for the development of Sikkim has been misused by the SKM party to buy so-called heavyweight joiners and to fund propaganda teams.
Chamling said the SDF has been raising the issue regularly.
“Unfortunately, hundreds of youth in Sikkim have no idea about the worsening unemployment situation in the State.
“Their attention has been diverted by the government by using them to physically and mentally attack other Sikkimese people.
“Many other youth who are aware of the situation and want to raise their concerns are either attacked or intimidated by the hired goons of the SKM party,” he further said.
He added that entrepreneurial zeal and passion in the state have also been severely damaged by the government by politicizing everything.
Many promising entrepreneurs have been victimized by this ruthless government just because they were not SKM supporters, Chamling claimed.
“The SKM party that promised 30,000 jobs has failed to create even 300 jobs in the last four years. They are mere windbags and the people of Sikkim no longer take them seriously,” the former Sikkim Chief Minister said.