The second day of Vidhan Sabha monsoon session witnessed heated arguments over disaster issue on Thursday. Reacting to the BJP legislators' allegations on sluggish approach of the Congress-led State Government following the disaster in June, the ruling party remained passive and protected the State Government.
later in afternoon session, the supplementary budget (2013-14) of Rs 4815.85 crore comprising Rs 3299.82 crore plan expenditure and Rs 1516.03 crore non-plan expenditure was tabled and passed by the House without discussion.
The session started with the Opposition trying to corner ruling party over shooting incident at State Agriculture Minister Dr Harak Singh Rawat's residence, two days ago, but BJP legislators failed to pursue the issue for long as Vidhan Sabha Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal pacified legislators highlighting 310 rule, under which the debate was focused only on the recent disaster.
After terming the steps taken by the Congress-led State Government as quite sufficient for saving the lives of stranded pilgrims, Congress Kapkot MlA lalit Mohan Farswan focused on the rehabilitation work.
The BJP Mussoorie MlA cornered the State Government for not taking effective steps for redressing the grievances of displaced villagers.He also showed his concern over the diminishing flow of tourists to Mussoorie and said that compensation funds are not being disseminated frequently.
The Congress Badrinath MlA Rajendra Bhandari praised the State Government for rescue and relief works, but also said that the relief materials were not disseminated judiciously among the displaced villagers whereas BJP Purola MlA Malchand lamented over the lack of connectivity of roads in the higher parts of the State.
He said that that the despite more than three months having passed since the natural calamity struck Uttarakhand, the State Government is yet to take effective steps for rebuilding infrastructure, connecting routes and roads, damaged potable water pipelines and other government establishments. He also threw light on the dearth of helipads in the mountainous parts of the State and termed helipads beneficial in case disaster strikes in the near future.
Malchand also expressed his antipathy for not sanctioning compensation to those residents whose residential complexes were damaged in the natural calamity that played catastrophe in the month of June. The Congress Dharchula MlA Harish Dhami expressed his gratitude to Congress-led state government for its involvement in the disaster affected areas of the state as according to him, lives of thousands of pilgrims and residents were saved by the State Government, whereas the BJP lohaghat MlA Pooran Singh cornered the State Government for not disseminating relief materials on a war footing, thus causing huge inconvenience to the displaced villagers.
The Tehri MlA Dinesh Dhanai praised the State Government. The former Vidhan Sabha Speaker and Cantt MlA Harbans Kapoor lambasted the Congress-led State Government for its lackadaisical approach during the disaster and further said that thousands of pilgrims and villagers had lost their lives as the State Government had ignored the state meteorological department's forecast.
The Congress Champawat MlA Hemesh Kharkwal stressed on the need to learn from past mistakes so that quick and effective steps could be introduced when needed. Former CM and BJP Doiwala MlA Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank left no chance to corner the state government for its insensitive attitude at the time of disaster.
He said that the hundreds of displaced villagers are still waiting for government response, but steps are yet to be introduced by the state for disseminating relief materials in the higher parts of the state. Heated arguments were witnessed while he was addressing the House and the Speaker pacified the legislators. After lambasting the State Government over recovery of bodies from Kedarnath, Nishank questioned why a black listed company had been given the contract for clearing Kedarnath of debris.
He also urged the Congress-led State Government to publicise the list of rescued pilgrims and displaced villagers. After expressing concern over the poor condition of roads in his constituency, the Congress Vikas Nagar MlA Nav Prahbat stressed on the river training programme in order to curtail damage in the near future.
The BJP legislators also left no chance to corner him, when he praised AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi for his involvement at the time of disaster in Uttarakhand and Vidhan Sabha Speaker pacified the legislators.
Reacting to Vidhan Sabha Speaker's decision to invite State Finance and Parliamentary Affairs minister Indira Hridayesh to table supplementary budget in the House, the leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha, Ajay Bhatt assured the House that the BJP legislators will support the ruling party.
later, Kashipur BJP MlA Harbhajan Singh Cheema also highlighted on the lackadaisical approach of the State Government for not properly carrying rescue and relief operations in the disaster affected areas of the state and the House was adjourned till 2 pm.
On the resuming of House, the BJP Salt MlA SS Jeena also condemned the state government. The BJP Someshwar MlA Ajay Tamta, Congress Srinagar MlA Dinesh Godiyal, BJP SS Pundir and others also expressed their views.