BHUBANESWAR: Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan on Friday said in the Assembly that 37,371 people have been given regular appointments in government jobs in the last 17 months of BJP rule in the state.

Making a statement in response to an adjournment motion notice by the Opposition BJD and Congress, the minister said the government is committed to keep its promise to give jobs to 1.5 lakh youth in five years. The process for appointment of another 65,000 youth in different government posts has already began.

Targeting the previous BJD government for choking employment opportunities by outsourcing jobs, the minister said the BJP is creating permanent job opportunities for the youth and not indulging in the play of statistics.

“Lakhs of youths had crossed the upper-age limit because of the delay and irregularities in conducting recruitment tests during the BJD government.

Our government increased the upper-age limit to 42 years from 32 to give chances to such people who would have been deprived of getting a job,” he said.

The minister alleged that appointment in the government sector had completely stalled from 2020 to 2022 because of the pandemic along with lack of any political will of the previous government.

During 2022-23, the government gave appointment to only 21,000 people, which was far less than the number of retirements that year. As a result, the vacancies in government posts increased to over two lakh, he said.

In 2024, the government claimed that it gave appointment to 57,000 people, but most of them were regularisation of contractual employees. The new government is working to fill up all vacant posts through regular appointments, he said