Drought like conditions in Bihar due to poor rainfall, elephant menace in Chattisgarh, unchecked supply of adulterated food in Nagaland, renaming Azamgarh railway station after famous poet Kaifi Azmi and ongoing nationwide truckers strike were some of the issues to figure in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Drawing the attention of the House during the Zero Hour to farmers plight especially those engaged in paddy cultivation in Bihar, Ramnath Thakur(JD-U)demanded central assistance to provide relief. Urging the government to sent a central team to assess the situation arising out due to scanty rainfall, he said the state was facing drought like situation.
He said farmers were facing hard times as they were not able to sow crops due to deficient rainfall and there was also a shortage of fodder for livestock. Singh said bore-wells were also affected due to drop in water table in several parts of the state.
Congress member MV Rajeev Gowda sought government intervention to end the strike called by truckers. He said transportation of goods was being affected due to the strike adding the problem was due to problems in implementation of e-way bill under the GST.
Highlighting the growing menace of elephants in Chhattisgarh, Ram Vichar Netam( BJP) the movement of elephants was causing problems for locals there and claimed 200 people had died due to attack by these animals.
Observing that the elephant menace was not there in the state till a few years back, he said the compensation to the next of kin of those killed at present was Rs two lakh and this amount was inadequate. He sought enhancement of this amount.
On a lighter note, Netam said the hordes of elephants should be diverted to violence hit areas to take on the extremists and terrorists. Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu quipped everyone favours “Haathi mere Saathi.”
Sukhram Singh Yadav(SP) urged the government to rename Azamgarh railway station after legendary Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi. Expressing concern over supply of adulterated food items to Nagaland from mainland, KG Kenye(NPF) urged the central government to address the issue. Bhupender Yadav (BJP) highlighted the importance of water management in the wake of a recent report by Niti Aayog.
Besides 16 Zero Hour mentions, the House also took up 10 special mentions.
As part of her special mention, Vijila Sathyananth (AIADMK) made a demand to upgrade the ESIC Hospital at Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu to 100 beds from the current 50 and also fill up vacancies on water footings to ease problems faced by labourers. Prasanna Acharya (BJD) demanded establishment of a permanent bench of the Odisha High Court in western part of the State.