Agriculture Minister Randhir Singh who was in limelight for jumping to the saffron bandwagon after getting elected on Jharkhand Vikas Morcha ticket on Tuesday faced the ire of Opposition parties when he was about to present views on cut motion moved by JVM MlA Pradeep Yadav. Opposition rejected Singh’s right to reply to the motion in the house as “his fate as an MlA hangs in balance”. Opposition vehemently contested the right of Singh to represent Government in the Assembly and blamed the Bhartiya Janta Party-led government of offering inducements to influence the Sarath MlA. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha once again alleged horse-trading on the part of government and sought reply from other minister.
“Randhir Kumar Singh has joined BJP by leaving a party and is minister of the department (Agriculture) however it is not clear whether he is with ruling party or opposition so if the Chief Minister wants opposition to play a constructive role then we would request that any other minister should be asked to answer on his (Singh’s) behalf,” said leader of Opposition Hemant Soren. Notably, the JVM had sought disqualification of Singh and five other MlAs elected on JVM ticket as they joined the BJP.
BJP MlA Saryu Roy requested agitated opposition members especially the leader of Opposition to let the proceedings continue as the matter is under consideration of Assembly Speaker. Nonetheless, the request fell on deaf ear as the JMM and JVM MlAs left the house in the midst of the discussion on Agriculture budget. “Nobody raised objection when Randhir Singh tabled budget, ruling and opposition raised their points thus the budget has been accepted. Now the government will reply and then voting will take place so the leader of the opposition must cooperate so that a favorable environment and suspend the matter to allow business of the house,” said Roy.
Notwithstanding the stiff resistance the Agriculture budget was passed with voice vote amid several new announcements made by the State government for the agriculture sector. The Minister Agriculture announced agriculture policy in next three months, increasing honorarium of krishak mitra to Rs 6000, organizing panchayat cabinet to resolve issues of cattle breeders of rural areas, setting up milk processing plant with capacity from 50000-litres to 1-lakh-litre, promoting cage culture in abandoned mines to promote fisheries.
The government focused on improving skills of farmers besides creating infrastructure, better irrigation facilities through ‘jal nidhi’ and miro-irrigation projects besides six hours of extra electricity to farmers to facilitate irrigation of fields. The house passed the agriculture budget of Rs 965.689-crore for the financial year 2015-16. The Sarath MlA stated on the floor of the house that the government will ban cow slaughter with penal provisions and if need arises will also open animal shelter to keep cows. Singh braved allegations of rampant corruption in the distribution of agriculture equipments and assured the house of thorough investigation into the matter. “The allegations appear to convincing and that is why the government has decided to have the matter investigated. No guilty official will be spared after the investigation,” said Singh.