Amid protest by Congress for not making available the Bills before hand to them, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday passed six bills by spending on an average less than 10 minutes on each.
The Bills, related to cow slaughter, protecting NRIs lands, issuing of bogus certificates by private institutions, among others, were passed, with little discussion, while the Congress legislators kept on ruing their inability to put up their view in the absence of the copies of the Bills. Even as the Speaker Charanjit Atwal and the Vidhan Sabha secretary Ved Parkash maintained that the copies of Bills were provided to all the legislators “well in advance”, the Congress MlAs stuck to their stand.
leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar minced no words to say that he doubted the Government’s intentions as it wanted to pass all the bills, as they have majority in the House, without the Opposition letting know what they were for. “We are wasting time on public money,” he said.
The six Bills, that received House’s nod, are The Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural land (Amendment) Bill, 2013; The Punjab Security of land Tenures (Amendment) Bill, 2013; The Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Amendment) Bill, 2013; The Punjab Privately Managed Recognised Schools Employees (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2013; The Punjab School Education Board (Amendment) Bill, 2013; and The Punjab Prohibition of Cow Slaughter (Amendment) Bill, 2013.
As BJP MlA Ashwani Sharma urged the State Government to set up gaushalas on panchayat lands during discussion on the cow slaughter bill, the SAD MlA Tota Singh asked the MlAs to show concern for “gau mata” by tying each one at their homes. The MlAs also highlighted the accidents taking place because of stray cattle menace. The Bill accredited Jalandhar’s Regional Disease Diagnostic laboratory (RDDl) to test the meat so that the source animal is identified — a step expected to help in preventing cow slaughter. Till now, there was no statutory laboratory for testing meat or identifying the kind of slaughtered or killed animals.
Before the House “unanimously” passed the Security of land Tenures Bill, Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia informed the House that it gives one-time concession to the NRIs and also the people serving Armed Forces, to vacate their ancestral properties.
Approving amendments in the Punjab School Education Board Act, 1969, the Punjab School Education Board has been empowered to check the malpractice of issuing bogus certificates or degrees which were not approved for employment in the Government as well as other organisations. The other three bills were passed without any discussion.
Rs 2.52 CR lOAN given to 911 SC FAMIlIES on lEGAl HEIRS
In a major relief to 911 Scheduled caste families, the Punjab Government on Tuesday announced to waive more than Rs 2.50 crore loan disbursed by Punjab Scheduled Castes land Development and Finance Corporation.
Making this announcement on the floor of the House, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that the State Government set aside the recovery of loan outstanding from legal heirs of deceased Scheduled Castes beneficiaries. The announcement was made after Akali MlAs Nirmal Singh and Iqbal Singh Jhundan raised a demand for the same through the calling attention notice. The notice was further supported by other members of the treasury benches as well as the Opposition legislators. The amount pending for recovery towards 911 deceased beneficiaries was around Rs 2.52 crores.
SEPARATE SPORTS DIRECTORATE BY EDUCATION DEPT
Punjab Education department will soon have its own separate Directorate of Sports. The directorate would implement the State’s Sports Policy, launched in 2010, across the educational institutes.
The state Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka informed the house while replying to a question raised by Jalandhar MlA Pargat Singh during the question hour.
Maluka said that the education department is taking series of steps, including the opening of 16 sports wings of which nine for rural students, organizing events to promote traditional games, introducing 15-25 grace marks depending purely on the students’ sports calibre.
Maintaining that though funds were not provided to the department for carrying out work related to sports, he added that Rs 10 crore corpus was created for upgrading sports infrastructure in educational institutions this year.
‘BASIC FACIlITIES TO All SECURITY PERSONNEl DEPlOYED WITH VVIPS’
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, in reply to a query posed by SAD MlA Pargat Singh, announced that all security personnel deployed with the VVIPs while accompanying them on official duties, would now onwards be provided with basic facilities, which were otherwise lacking. He added that the Home department had also issued suitable instructions to all districts to ensure the compliance of the orders.
CAPT AMARINDER DOWN WITH VIRAl
Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh skipped the second day of the ongoing winter session as he was down with viral fever. The doctors have advised him complete bed rest. Capt Amarinder, in a press release issued, said that he will be attending the ongoing Assembly session as soon as he gets better.