Chandigarh, April 29- Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal said that even in this hour of COVID-19 Pandemic, State Government is committed to continue government recruitments against vacant posts in various departments wherever needed. He said that the State Government has already provided employment to 86000 youth in a transparent manner through Haryana Public Service Commission and Haryana Staff Selection Commission in its previous and present tenure of five and a half years whereas only 86000 youth were recruited in the entire ten-year tenure of previous government. He clarified that the recruitment process of 12,500 posts is already in the pipeline, after written examination, the result of which would be declared after the lockdown period.

The Chief Minister was interacting with the people of the State during the 'Haryana Aaj' programme, here today.

The Chief Minister said that as per the appeal made by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and as per the guidelines of Union Ministry of Home Affairs, arrangements have been made to start industrial and commercial units from April, 20,2020 across the State in a phased manner. In the third phase the State would be divided into two zones. He said that in 15 districts where the number of Corona positive cases is less than 10, a district-level strategy would be adopted to start their operations. While, in the other seven districts, namely Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Sonipat, Panipat, Palwal, and Panchkula, the strategy would be made as per the block and town level. No economic activity would be allowed in the containment zone, he added.

The Chief Minister said that the industrial units which would follow the social distancing norms and would carry out their operations with less than 50 percent labour strength, can extend their working hours from 8 to12 hours, provided they shall pay double the salary for overtime to their workers as per Section 59 in The Factories Act, 1948.

Sharing information about various industrial units, which have been permitted to carry out their operations, the Chief Minister said that all the brick kilns in the State have been allowed to function and presently around 2.07 lakh labourers are working in these Brick Kilns. Apart from this, following the MHA guidelines, various industrial units have been opened in which approximately 5.5 lakh employees and workers are working while adhering to the social distancing norms.

The Chief Minister further shared that in the IT sector, units have been allowed to carry out operations with 33 percent labour strength and the other industrial units have been allowed to work with 50 percent labour strength. He said that in the rural areas, permission has been given to open all the shops. In the cities, some stand-alone shops in the streets and the shops which are not a part of the market would be permitted to open.

Lauding the role of migrant labourers, who have been living in the State for 15-20 years and have been instrumental in the development of Haryana, the Chief Minister said that all such labourers are like family to the people of Haryana and everyone in the State has a brotherly feeling for them. He said that this feeling was witnessed when about 15 thousand migrant labourers, while leaving for their home states, had thanked the district administration profusely for all the love and care shown to them during their stay in the relief camps.

He said that arrangements will be made to send the labourers who are still engaged in harvesting work to their respective states soon after the harvesting work is completed. Till then all arrangements for their food and lodging will be taken care of by the State Government.

Sharing the details about the contribution made by the MLAs and Ministers, the Chief Minister said that all the MLAs including the Ministers have contributed their one month’s salary to the Haryana Corona Relief Fund. Along with this, they have also decided to contribute 30 percent amount from their salaries to the Haryana Corona Relief Fund for a period of one year. Similarly, in order to save on government expenditure, Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Deputy Speaker and all the Ministers have promised to spend Rs. 51 crore less out of their discretionary quota this year, which amounts to more than Rs. 100 crore every year.

He said that economic activities have been started in a phased manner after April 20, 2020. The Chief Minister said that at present time, it is our duty to protect our lives and it is our responsibility to provide a safe future to our future generations.