The Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat might not be having the complete information due to which he made a statement regarding the slaughter house at Manglaur in Haridwar being sanctioned by the previous Congress-led State Government. It is the BJP State Government which has released a sum of Rs 2.5 crore for slaughter house construction, averred Surendra Kumar, the spokesman of former CM and current Congress Working Committee member Harish Rawat.
Addressing the media here on Monday, Kumar said, “Though the Chief Minister’s statement is far from the truth, I would prefer to call it a result of inadequate information.The recommendations of the fourth state finance commission submitted to the Governor in May 2016 and later tabled in the Assembly were approved by the current State Government. As per the recommendations of the commission, urban local bodies and Gram Panchayats are being allocated funds regularly. As part of this, the BJP State Government allocated Rs 2.5 crore per year for slaughter house construction. It seems as if the Chief Minister either purposely spoke the untruth or he was kept in the dark by officials because the State Government has the authority to make amendments in the recommendations included in the finance commission report. Instead of taking a decision on this at that time, fund was approved for the slaughter house.”
Kumar, further, said that in a legal slaughter house, a doctor is appointed who examines the meat and stamps to certify it. However, such facility is not made in an illegal slaughter house. It appears as if the Government intends to encourage illegal slaughter house operating under the protection of BJP leaders, he alleged.
Questioning the BJP Government on its efforts aimed at doubling income of farmers, Kumar said that farmers in Uttarakhand are seeing their crops being damaged by various wild animals including elephants, monkeys and wild boar. However, the Government has not done anything to tackle this issue which is also one of the factors forcing the farmers to migrate. The Government is satisfied simply forming the rural development and migration commission, he added.
It will be recalled that following protest by the local MlA against construction of slaughter house at Manglaur, the CM Trivendra Singh Rawat had stated that the permission for this construction had been granted in 2016 during the term of the previous State Government. He had recently ordered the Haridwar district magistrate telling him that permission for construction of the said slaughter house has been cancelled.
Amid the debate on whether Munni Devi should resign or not from the post of chairperson of the district panchayat of Chamoli after she took oath as Tharali MlA, the state BJP president Ajay Bhatt and the state Panchayati Raj minister Arvind Pandey have said that there is no problem for Munni Devi continuing to hold both the posts. Pandey, however, added that he has asked the director of Panchayati raj department to clarify whether the post of district panchayat chairman is an office of profit or not. It is learnt that the panchayati raj department has decided to take legal opinion on the issue.
Pandey said that there is absolutely no problem for Munni Devi continuing to discharge responsibilities while holding the post of the chairman of the district panchayat and the MlA. Ajay Bhatt echoed the same and tore into the Congress leader lakpat Butola for forcibly occupying the position of the chairman of Chamoli district Panchayat while terming it as illegal.
He opined that since the post of district panchayat chairman is not an office of profit there is no reason why Munni Devi should relinquish it after she has taken oath as the MlA.
Munni Devi turned emotional when quizzed by the media persons over the issue. She alleged that some elements are out to remove her from the post of the district panchayat chairman by unfair means.
The oath-taking being held nearly two and half months after Munni Devi was declared elected from Tharali Assembly (May 31) has eyebrows raised. Her critics allege that things were delayed as she chose to cling to the lucrative post of the district panchayat chairman.
Meanwhile, the Congress said that Munni Devi cannot hang on to both the positions. The state party’s chief spokesman Mathura Dut Joshi told The Pioneer on Monday that Panchayati Raj Act clearly states that a person cannot simultaneously remain member of two houses and in case one gets elected in both of them, the membership of the lower house automatically gets cancelled.
Another party spokesperson Garima Dasauni added that section 27 (C) of Panchayati Raj Act prohibits a person from becoming member of two houses. She added that Supreme Court too had ruled that elected representative cannot hold office of profit.