Samajwadi Party's poll sop sparks law and order scare

LUCKNOW: Police resorted to lathicharge at several employment exchanges across Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, when jobless youth rushed for registration to avail the Rs 1,000 a month unemployment dole promised by the Samajwadi Party.

Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister-designate, has reassured the people that the party will implement all promises made in its manifesto ahead of the recent assembly polls, leading to an unprecedented rush at the enrolment centres.

Regional employment officer PK Pundir said he had never seen such a crowd at the Lucknow centre, where, he said, more than 25,000 people had turned up on Monday but only 10,000 could be enrolled. The centre does not have sufficient staff to manage such crowds. Earlier, the centre averaged just about 1,000 registrations a month, he said.

The surge led to heavy traffic jams in Lucknow, with the youth climbing atop vehicles and gates awaiting their turn to get registered. Reports of police using force to control the crowds also emanated from Bahraich, Agra, Moradabad and Kanpur. In Varanasi, officials had to open six more counters to handle the crowds. Chaos was also reported from employment offices in Chitrakoot, Banda, Kannauj, Hamirpur and Kanpur.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhary termed the huge turnout a sign of confidence shown towards the party's promise and asked officials to exercise restraints.

"The large turnout at such places is reflective of the mood of confidence in the young minds of UP towards the SP poll promises," he said.

Samajwadi Party had implemented an unemployment dole of Rs 500 a month during its previous stint in power. The promise of the amount being doubled by the party that is set to form the new government has led to a massive surge, with a large number of girls queuing up to get registered.