The Winter Session of the Uttarakhand Assembly at Bharadisain in Chamoli district was adjourned sine die by the Assembly Speaker, Premchand Agarwal, on the second day on Friday. The much-awaited lokayukt Bill, however, was not put up in the House.
Earlier in the day, the issue of alleged extraction of a person’s kidney by the husband of State Minister Rekha Arya without his knowledge rocked the House. Demanding discussion under rule 58, the agitated Congress members marched to the Well of the House and disrupted the proceedings of the assembly.
Raising slogans the Congress members objected to the speaker’s decision to let Rekha Arya explain the position of the Government. The Speaker Premchand Agarwal had given permission to the Congress MlA and deputy leader of Congress legislative party Karan Mahra to raise the issue under rule 58 under which work adjournment was sought by the member. Mahra said that one Naresh Gangwar had submitted a complaint to the police in which he had alleged that Arya's husband Girdhari lal Sahu had taken him to Sri lanka where his kidney was extracted without his consent.
He said that the police are yet to submit status report in the case despite the order of court. Mahra demanded that since the matter is associated with a close relative of a Minister so she should resign which would pave the way for an independent and unbiased probe in the matter.
When the Minister tried to reply, the Congress members objected and demanded discussion on the matter. The Speaker ruled that since Arya is a Minister she can register her reply. However Congress members continued their vociferous protest which forced the speaker to adjourn the house till lunch break.
The House witnessed uproar earlier when proceedings began in the morning as well when the Congress members demanded discussions on deteriorating law and order condition in the State under rule 310. The Speaker overruled this demand. During the question hour Congress member, Mamta Rakesh demanded as to what decisions the Government had taken on implementation of U -health card scheme for the State Government employees. In his reply, the parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Pant said that a decision to deduct 0.75 and 0.50 per cent on basic salary and pension of the employees was taken to provide benefit of cashless medical insurance facility. The Minister said that the task of appointing a nodal officer and Third Party Administrator (TPA) for the scheme is currently under process. Rakesh also raised the issue of pending payment to sugarcane farmers. The Minster Prakash Pant informed that a payment of Rs 8669.32 lakh is yet to be made to the sugarcane farmers of the state. Independent member Pritam Singh Panwar wanted to know about any work plan of the Government for the conservation, promotion and upliftment of Garhwali and Kumaoni languages in the State. Parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Pant said that Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan and Uttarakhand lok Bhasha and Boli Academy have been set up in the State for this purpose.
Panwar also wanted to know whether the State Government has any plan to waive off the loans of disaster affected farmers of the state on which Pant said that due to heavy financial burden the State Government has no such plan.
In response to a question by the independent MlA, Pritam Singh Panwar, the agriculture Minister Subodh Uniyal said that the State Government has selected 1050 clusters to promote horticulture in the state under which 384 clusters are for fruits, 437 for vegetables, 179 for herbal species and 50 are for flowers.
The Minister said that the Government is promoting land consolidation, one village one farm, mission apple, walnut, fish culture and mushroom farming in the state to augment income of farmers.
Assembly passes 12 bills in Winter Session
In the legislative works the assembly passed 12 bills which were put before it. The Transfer Bill, the Uttarakhand Appropriation 2017-18 bill, Uttarakhand Aadhaar Bill 2017, Sarai Act 2017, Uttarakhand Cinema Regulation Amendment bill, Uttarakhand Ayurveda University (amendment) and Uttarakhand Shops and Establishment bills were among those passed by the Assembly.
Too many questions & petitions by BJP MlA Deshraj Karnwal irk Congress
The BJP MlA from Jhabreda Deshraj Karnwal had placed more than 500 questions and put up hundreds of petitions in the house.
When the member started placing the petitions, the leader of Opposition, Indira Hridayesh raised a point of order and requested the speaker to set up a procedure so that a mechanism is evolved to prevent such a scenario.
She argued that it set a wrong precedence. Karnwal however said that the section of society he comes from is deprived hence more petitions and suggestions were put up by him to forward their cause.