Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced that an exercise to fill vacancies in government posts will soon start in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, while assuring its large workforce that they will get salaries and perks on par with employees of other Union Territories.
"Friends, an exercise to fill all vacant central and state government posts in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh will begin very soon. It will give local youths adequate employment opportunities," he said in the televised address to the nation after his government revoked the region's special provisions under Article 370 and split it into two Union territories.
Noting that government employees of the region, including police personnel, are not getting many facilities enjoyed by their counterparts in other UTs, Modi said it will be the Centre's priority that they get the same perks.
As of now, they were not getting many of the benefits like LTC (leave travel concession), house rent allowance, health insurance and education allowance for their children, he said.
In a region, where unemployment is a big concern with the government being the main source of jobs, the prime minister reached out to its youths saying public and private sectors will be encouraged to create employment.
"The Army and paramilitary forces will hold exercises to recruit youngsters," he added.
Amid outrage by the Valley-based politicians over repealing of Article 35A and provisions of Article 370, Modi said the two Articles gave people no benefits and denied them advantages of various laws that the Union government enacted over the years.
Children in Jammu and Kashmir were denied the benefits of the Right to Education, its women did not get rights on par with women in other states and its Dalits could not use the stringent law applicable in the rest of the country to curb atrocities against them.
Over 1.5 crore people of the state never benefitted from the country's laws, he said, adding that legislation protecting the rights of minorities and labourers also never covered them.