An intriguing development unfolded in the State Assembly on the fifth day of the Budget session on Tuesday as two MlAs—Amrita Rawat of the Congress and Bhimlal Arya who had been expelled from the BJP tore into their parties, pouring ridicule and flinging innuendos.
As the House started with the Question Hour Congress MlA Amrita Rawat questioned the State Government’s role regarding its assurance to recruit adequate number of doctors in the Government-run hospitals.
Downplaying the issue, State Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi said the crunch of doctors in the Government facilities was a national phenomenon. He cited the experiences he had had while attending the health ministers’ meet in Delhi. This prompted the Opposition to ask him to come to the point directly without whiling away time in idle talks. The minister later said that they were recruiting doctors for the State-run facilities through walk-in interviews that are held every Tuesday. Springing up to her feet, Amrita ridiculed the claim, saying that the hospital in her constituency had been grappling with the doctors’ crunch for the past four years with innumerable Tuesday having passed.
Unperturbed by the MlA chipping in, the minister continued, claiming that things were happening thick and fast. “We would complete things regarding ANM (Auxillary Nursing Midwife) in the next one month while the posts of pharmacists from SC/ST/OBC categories will be filed in next one and half months. Through walk-in interviews, we have recruited 267 doctors so far,” Negi said.
later, with BJP MlA Madan Kaushik closing in on the same matter, the minister corrected himself, saying that, to be precise, 262 doctors had been recruited through walk-in interviews so far. leaving the Treasury bench stunned, Amrita strongly criticized the State government for providing wrong figure and drew the Speaker’s attention.
Amrita pitched in again during the post-lunch session on the emotive issue of mining. As she referred to the case of a mining unit recently inaugurated by industrial adviser to the Chief Minister the Speaker intervened, saying that the unit must be authorized as no illegal mining was happening in the State presently.
Seemingly indomitable, Amrita said she was not being invited at the official functions being presided over by the officials. Seeking the Speaker’s intervention, she said such things should not happen, a contention that drew support from the Opposition bench. Sensing things turning grave for his Government, CM Harish Rawat assured the House that the MlAs themselves should correct things in case their names had not inadvertently found their places in the invitee list.
Sounding empathic for the MlAs kept at bay, he cited his own experience when he was the Haridwar MP. “I was not invited during the Kumbh-2010. Things were not corrected by the erstwhile BJP government in the State though,” he said. Kaushik protested, saying one instance was not enough to blame a Government and a party.
At another remove, the expelled BJP MlA Bhimlal Arya was all praise for the Governor’s keynote address, saying it reflected the development works being initiated by the State government on the ground. leaving his former colleagues in the saffron camp embarrassed, he appreciated CM’s concern to understand micro requirements of the Uttarakhand people, something that stands in contradistinction to the BJP’s stance that has been debunking it as a bunch of calculatingly concocted lies .