DW BUREAU/ chandigarh The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday demanded the Congress government release 'Shagun' money under the Ashirwad scheme immediately to all SC/BC brides saying the State should not withhold this benefit during a time of pandemic. In a statement here, party spokesman Pawan Kumar Tinu said it was shocking that the Ashirwad scheme was not being disbursed to beneficiaries since the last one year. "The Congress government has a history of discrimination towards Dalits who form a major chunk of the beneficiaries. Earlier it did not release scholarship to SC students leading to the reduction of total strength of students in State colleges. Now they are denying Shagun to SC brides." Asking Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to intervene in the matter immediately, Tinu said that it was unfortunate that Capt Amarinder Singh was not taking any step to correct the injustice being done unto Dalits by his government. The SAD leader said SC BC Welfare minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot had also failed in his duties and should be sacked forthwith. Tinu also reminded the chief minister of the promise made to the SC and BC communities that the disbursal under the Ashirwad scheme would be increased to Rs 51,000. He said it was unfortunate that even though the Congress government was about to complete four years in office the disbursal under the scheme was still Rs 21,000 only. Tinu also disclosed that it was not only the Ashirwad scheme which was not being implemented properly. He said even couples who had gone in for inter- caste marriages had not received Rs 50,000 benefit since years. He also asked the chief Minister to look into all social welfare schemes and get the backlog cleared YAD ASKS ABOUT JOBS Meanwhile, the Youth Akali Dal (YAD) asked Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to tell Punjabi youth how many jobs he had given to them in the last three and a half years even as he asked him to tell which of the six major promises made to the youth in the Congress election manifesto had been fulfilled till now. Addressing a virtual conference, YAD President Parambans Singh Romana said the chief minister and the Congress party should not try to mislead youth any longer. "It is high time the chief minister tells how many jobs he has given to the youths. Jobs created by his government and not placement agencies of private colleges or self employed jobs created in the market. Once the chief minister comes out with this figure it will be clear whether the Congress has come even remotely close to creating 52 lakh jobs under its ghar ghar naukari yojna as promised in the party's election manifesto." Parambans Romana also asked the chief minister and finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who headed the party's election manifesto committee, to tell the status of the promises made to the youth. He said both the CM and FM should tell if the unemployed youth were ever given Rs 2,500 per month unemployment allowance as promised. "The government should specify how many youth were given unemployment allowance in the last three and a half years." (editor@dailyworld.in)