The Madhya Pradesh Assembly witnessed a ruckus-like situation on Tuesday over the alleged protection being provided to sand mafia by police in Bhind district.
Raising the matter through a calling attention notice, Govind Singh (Congress) alleged that sub-divisional magistrate (lahar) Rajesh Rathore, revenue inspector Ramsevak and patwari Zuber Mohammad were beaten up by 'sand mafia' on June 11.
He claimed that 40-50 armed men reached the police station later with the objective of registering a First Information Report (FIR) against the SDM, the RI and the patwari and created ruckus for about an hour.
In his reply, Home Minister Babulal Gaur admitted that an FIR was registered in connection with Rathore, Ramsevak and Mohammad being beaten up and for disrupting government work.
He said eight accused were arrested while two others were absconding and refuted that 40-50 armed men created ruckus inside the police station.When the member pressed for getting the matter examined whether such a ruckus was created in the police station, Gaur refused stating that it was not required.
The Congress members protested against the Minister's response and continued to demand that the matter be examined. However, the situation came to a close when the Speaker proceeded to the next item listed on the agenda.
The main Opposition Congress also staged a walkout in the assembly during Question Hour when Speaker Sitasharan Sharma disallowed them from raising queries related to a question asked by another member.
During Question Hour, Ramakant Tiwari (ruling BJP) raised the issue of delay in carrying out electrification works under the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Scheme at Teonthar and Jawa blocks in Rewa district.
He alleged that the work was being shown to be under progress but actually no progress was being made. He claimed that electric poles were fixed two-and-a-half years ago but no further work was done.
Energy Minister Rajendra Shukla assured the member that the task would be completed latest by March next year. Tiwari attempted to raise a supplementary but was not permitted as it did not arse from the original question.
In the meantime, some Congress members tried to raise similar queries concerning their areas. leader of the Opposition Satyadev Katare demanded that the Opposition members be allowed to raise their issues.
However, Sharma disallowed the members stating that it did not arise from the original question. He asserted that the query of the member concerned has been satisfied.
Katare contended that the Congress members should at least be heard before deciding whether their queries were related. When the Speaker refused to change his position, the Opposition members led by Katare staged a walk-out.