Attari: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said unemployment is one of the biggest problems in the border areas and said if his party is voted to power, it will implement a special industrial package for the border belt along with filling three lakh vacant government jobs to provide gainful employment to the youth.
Badal launched his door-to-door programme to get feedback from people for his party's poll manifesto.
Referring to his conversations with people, he said a 23-year-old woman during his door-to-door programme in Cheecha village told him that they need jobs for the family to prosper.
Badal said he assured her that besides bringing industry into the border area by giving appropriate incentives, the next SAD government would be committed to filling up three lakh vacant government jobs within one year of government formation.
"We also have a plan to skill our youth by establishing centres of the proposed World Skill University in each district. Youth will also be eligible to become entrepreneurs by availing of a proposed Rs 10 lakh interest-free loan," said Badal.
He said some residents also pointed towards the drug problem in the area.
A resident told Badal that drug addicts are robbing motor pumps, wires and even metal objects to purchase drugs.
This has created fear in the villages, with women getting apprehensive of setting foot out of their homes after dark, he said.
The SAD president, who visited five households in the village, urged people to list the five top expectations from the next SAD government in forms given to them.
Urging people to fill the forms, he said that after taking feedback from the grassroots level, the party would finalise its election manifesto and release the same on November 1.
He told reporters that he was pained after visiting households.
"The women folk told me that the open sale of drugs is destroying an entire generation. They also expressed worry that their sons are not getting jobs, leading to depression and falling prey to the drug mafia," claimed Badal.
At a separate party event, Vibe Punjab Di, in Moga, Badal appealed to youth to give him a chance to turn around Punjab.
Telling the youth that he would return joy and progress in their lives, Badal said, "I will make you proud of the SAD and me."
The vibe of the programme saw Badal take on a variety of questions, from his time at the Chandigarh College of Arts, where he made bronze and fibreglass statues, to his love of animals and how he spent two hours every morning with them, to his choosing a village life and 'chhole-bhatura' over pizza.
Replying to a question, Badal even went on to choose singer A P Dhillon over Satinder Sartaj and Diljit Dosanjh and 'namkeen lassi' over coffee and mountains over beaches.
He also disclosed that he was the captain of his school's 'bhangra' team.
Badal chose kabaddi over all other sports and announced that the next kabaddi World Cup under the SAD government would carry a cash prize of Rs 10 crore.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
