The members of Uttar Pradesh Assembly will donate one month’s salary for the Kerala Chief Minister’s relief fund for flood victims of the southern state. The MlAs will also donate Rs 5 lakh from the Vidhayak Nidhi for the people of Kerala. The House also passed a resolution condoling the deaths of the citizens in the worst-ever floods in Kerala and expressed its sympathy for the calamity-hit people.
The proposal for donating one month’s salary was moved by BJP MlA Suresh Srivastava and the same was later adopted by the House. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna also assured the House that rules governing the Vidhayak Nidhi would be amended and orders would be issued soon enabling MlAs to donate Rs 5 lakh for the Kerala relief fund. As per the existing rules, the MlAs can utilise funds from the Vidhayak Nidhi only within the area of their respective Assembly constituency.
leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chowdhary pointed out that during the natural calamity that hit Uttarakhand in 2013, the MlAs had donated from the Vidhayak Nidhi and rules were amended for that. Khanna said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was in Delhi and as soon as he returned to lucknow orders for amending the rules would be issued after obtaining his approval. The minister said the UP government had already sanctioned Rs 15 crore for flood victims of Kerala besides food, medicines and other relief material had also been dispatched to the flood-hit state. The Assembly also mourned the death of former lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and DMK president M Karunanidhi