Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal cancelled a question raised by lansdowne MlA Dalip Singh Rawat as the Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Pritam Singh, did not have the information sought.
Rawat had asked the reason for kerosene not being distributed regularly in the Nainidanda and Rikhanikhal blocks in his constituency.
Raising objection to the question that the sought information was being collected, Rawat said that it was shameful that there is no information on the issue. The Speaker first asked the MlA to raise the question next time but Singh stated that he had no information to provide to the MlA and with Rawat insisting on this being a failure, the Speaker cancelled the question.
When informed that the Pauri chief development officer was seeking utilisation certificate from the Gram Pradhans before releasing fund for works executed with MlA local area development fund, Singh informed that there was no Government order to this effect and that action will be taken against the official.
Responding to another question raised by Rawat about the areas included in the eco-sensitive zones in Uttarakhand, Parliamentary Affairs minister Indira Hridayesh said that the Government of India had notified a 4179.59 square kilometres area from Gaumukh to the watershed area of Bhagirathi river as eco-sensitive zone in 2012 without the consent of the State Government or the Forest Minister.
The State Government has proposed eco-sensitive zones in Mussoorie wildlife sanctuary, Valley of Flowers national park and the Nandhaur wildlife sanctuary but the Central Government had not notified these till date. Explaining the regulations to be observed in ESZs, Hridayesh informed that activities including construction of hydro electric power projects, commercial mining, high mast lights, DJs, loud music, polythene carry bags, sewage discharge, fencing the premises and axing of trees or collection of wood except by bonafide residents for personal use are banned in ESZs.
When Gangotri MlA Vijaypal Singh Sajwan said that residents of 80 disaster affected villages in the Bhagirathi ESZs were facing problems due to the regulations, Hridayesh informed that Forest Department officials were holding high level talks with the Centre seeking that construction be allowed in the disaster affected areas.
More than 300 families rehabilitated in 1994 and 2012 from Pauri and Nainital districts respectively in Kashipur and Ramnagar areas of Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts respectively have not yet received land ownership rights. Raising this issue in the Assembly, the Kashipur MlA Harbhajan Singh Cheema accused the government of apathy. Revenue minister Yashpal Arya maintained that the due process is time consuming and that settlement would be facilitated soon but failed to give any time frame for this.
Cheema asked the Revenue Minister how many families had been rehabilitated from three villages of Kotdwar in Pauri district in 1994 and from laldhang in Ramnagar, Nainital in 2012 at Kashipur and Ramnagar respectively.
He also asked whether those rehabilitated had been accorded land ownership rights. Arya replied that a total of 314 families had been rehabilitated and added that the process of documenting them in the revenue records was a time consuming process.
Cheema questioned the delay stating that they had land ownership rights to the lands from which the families were relocated but 24 years after those from Pauri were rehabilitated in Kashipur, they had not even been entered into the revenue records. He said that the settlement process had not started as was being claimed by the Revenue Minister.