On the issue of regularisation of the slums located across Dehradun Municipal Corporation area, Treasury and Opposition benches on Friday competed with each other in bids to show their ‘genuine’ empathy for the slums and those dwelling in them.
Things started after Urban Development Minister Pritam Singh Panwar said 102 slums had been identified with others remaining unidentified by the Urban Development Department.
Congress MlA Navprabhat asked him to explain the parameters against which the slums were defined. When the Minister answered him, he shot back asking what was stopping him then from identifying the hitherto unidentified slums with the notion being so crystal clear.
When the BJP members said something on the emotive matter Cabinet Minister Dinesh Aggrawal started shouting slogans, dubbing the BJP as anti-slums. Uproarious scenes were witnessed that went on for a few minutes. Thereafter, the Minister assured that identification process of the slums would be completed before the next session of the Assembly begins. This helped order being restored.
During the Question Hour, BJP MlA Harbans Kapur asked Urban Development Minister to disclose how many slums in Dehradun’s urban areas presently were. Panwar said that 102 slums mentioned under Dehradun Municipal Corporation areas have been recorded so far. To regularise the slums and address their grievances, the State Government had constituted a high-level committee with the instruction that the process must be completed by December 17, 2017.
Kapur then said 50 slums were yet to be identified by the city’s civic body.
At this point, BJP MlA Madan Kaushik asked the Minister whether he was aware of the recommendations of a State Government-appointed committee that were made public in 2011. When the Minister answered in the positive he asked why the Government had been sitting on them.
Seeing BJP had stolen the show, Cabinet Minister Dinesh Aggrawal who was sitting ahead of Panwar, sprang to his feet and started blaming the BJP on non-implementation of the report as the saffron party was saddled in power then.
“This buttresses our charge that BJP is anti-slums,” he quipped.
Angered by the Minister’s insinuation, the BJP MlAs said the Government was indulging in rhetorical flourish and doing nothing on the ground to better things for the slum-dwellers.
They walked out in protest. After they left the Minister assured that the Government would complete the survey of unidentified slums before the next session begins.