The members of the main opposition Congress on Thursday staged a walkout in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly after being dissatisfied over Energy Minister Rajendra Shukla’s reply over the policy for replacing transformers.
Raising the matter through a calling attention notice, Ramniwas Rawat of the Congress said the policy to replace transformers was defective as it required more than 50 per cent full payment to be paid by parties concerned. He said power consumers who paid their own respective bills suffered because of defaulters.
He demanded that the policy be changed so that electricity should be supplied to those who made payment. However, Shukla pointed out that payment for electricity bills was necessary as the Government needed to make payment for various input materials. Dissatisfied with the reply, Congress members created ruckus-like situation and later led by Deputy leader of Opposition Bala Bachchan staged a walkout.
Earlier, the Minister assured the member that the work of feeder separation in Sheopur and Morena districts would be completed by October 2015. The member had raised the issue of electric poles being weak and being uprooted, cables being damaged and feeder separation work being incomplete despite the deadline having passed in March 2013.
Earlier, during the Question Hour, the Madhya Pradesh Government informed the Assembly that 255 works had been sanctioned for coming Simhastha Fair scheduled to be organised in the temple town Ujjain in 2016. “Of them, 85 works are under progress while 15 have already been completed,” said Urban Administration and Development Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, while replying to a query by Yashpal Singh Sisodiya (Bharatiya Janata Party).
In response to Sisodiya’s query over when the remaining 155 works would begin as Simhastha fair is approaching near, he said most of these works were temporary in nature and were started six months prior to the fair.
In reply to another query by Hardeep Singh Dang of Congress, Religious Trusts and Endowment Yashodhra Raje Scindia said that the Government was in the process of collecting data related to the area of temple land under the supervision of priests and management of temple funds. She said a new policy would be made in this regard after data collection. She admitted that the administration of most temples was being looked after by tehsildars and the district collectors due to shortage of staff. Scindia said the problem of shortage of staff would be resolved after data collection so that temples could be managed effectively.