Chief Minister Harish Rawat has strongly condemned the BJP MlAs for their unruly behaviour on Tuesday, saying that they had forced the Speaker to abruptly adjourn the House sine die on the second day of the special Vidhan Sabha session at Garisain. “They deserve to be condemned by one and all. They forgot that the fulcrum of parliamentary democracy is founded on cooperation between the ruling party and the opposition,” he said while addressing a Press conference on Wednesday.
“During the session, the State Government had brought several notices regarding the State being given special category status, 90:10 ratio in centrally sponsored schemes, green bonus and financial help for the environmental promotion in Himalayan region. On these matters, we badly need their cooperation in the larger interests of the State. We had assured them that a debate on their petition would be held after the important business was transacted. But they refused to heed to our assurance,” he said.
“In course of the short-lived Gairsain session, we managed to pass `4,788 crore supplementary budget. During the Budget session, we had passed `32,693 crore Budget and now the figure is `37,481 crore. This is 15-16 per cent more than the corresponding year. Despite the Union Government’s decision to stop funding regarding several Central Government schemes, we have managed to augment our own resources of income,” CM added.
He made it clear that Gairsain is not on their political agenda. “We are rather focused on bringing development in Gairsain. For this, we want consensus across the political spectrum,” he said.,
“By convening cabinet meeting and organising session at Gairsain we have made our approach towards Gairsain crystal clear. We would do everything possible to uplift life in the hills which we regard as our mother. To achieve this, we have a clear- cut road map. After laying proper infrastructure, we would give option to the people of the State. We have been addressing issues which remained unaddressed over the past 15 years. MlA hostel and Vidhan Sabha building would be completed by July 2016. This would make room for the Budget session in Gairsain,” CM said.
“In Gairsain we have been developing road network along with helipad and water source as well. We have been creating water reservoir named after Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali. This is just the beginning. But the opposition is stonewalling things. They were hell-bent on having debate under a section that relates to no-confidence motion against the State Government. The Speaker was ready to allow the debate under a different section. But they were adamant,” CM said.