Budget presentation deferred, legislators pay tribute to martyrs

By Arun Pratap Singh
DEHRADUN, 15 Feb: Uttarakhand State Budget which was to be presented today in the state assembly was deferred in order to pay tribute to the martyrs of terror attack that killed 44 of CRPF jawans yesterday in Pulwama in Jammu & Kashmir. The legislators also decided to contribute one month’s salary for welfare of the families bereaved due to the terror attack. The budget will now be presented on Monday instead. After offering condolence, the house was adjourned for the day and will now sit on Monday!
The Business Advisory Committee headed by Speaker Prem Chand Aggarwal had in its meeting before the sitting of the House today, proposed postponement of all the business and instead pay tribute to the martyrs of the terror attack. As soon as the House assembled today, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant under the rule 112 (1) of the Procedure Rules related to condolence messages informed the House of the terror incident of yesterday in Pulwama of Jammu & Kashmir which killed a large number of Jawans of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). He informed that it was probably the biggest terror attack in the state. The attack was carried out by terrorists on a convoy of CRPF vehicles. Pant offered the condolence on behalf of the House. Speaking on the occasion, Leader of the House and CM Trivendra Singh Rawat expressed shock and anguish over the cowardly and dastardly terror attack. He appealed the members of the House to donate their one month’s salaries towards the welfare of the bereaved families. He said that during such moments of crisis, all irrespective of party to which they belonged to, stood as one for the sake of the country. CM also announced that eligible family members of the martyrs from Uttarakhand would get suitable government jobs in accordance to their qualifications. All the members unanimously agreed to the proposal of the Chief Minister to contribute one month’s salary towards the welfare of the families of the martyrs.
Leader of the Opposition, Indira Hridayesh too expressed shock and grief over the tragic incident. She said that her party and everyone in the country was one with the Centre and the armed forces in this hour of grief and expressed confidence that the enemies would be taught a tough lesson.
Munna Singh Chauhan described the incident as an act of desperation. He added that terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir was on the verge of being wiped out and now it was restricted to just five districts of the state. Even the cross border infiltration was almost completely blocked. This had forced the Pakistan based terror outfits to use locals in the suicidal attack as bombers. He added that such an incident could not have happened without some local support and this needed to be taken care of.
Vinod Chamoli said that Uttarakhand was land of the brave and among the martyrs, some were from Uttarakhand too. He added that the entire country was looking upon Uttarakhand, as its sons of soils were holding crucial positions to revenge the attack. He reminded that from Army Chief to RAW Chief and NSA, persons from Uttarakhand had the responsibility to defend the country. He added that there ought to be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Indian Government and the Indian forces were fully capable of teaching a tough lessons to the enemies of the country and they would soon revenge the dastardly terror attack. Ritu Khanduri said that all political parties ought to rise above politics and be one with the Centre and the armed forces! Preetam Singh Panwar expected the Centre to take tough action against the enemies and teach them tough lessons.
Mahendra Bhatt said that Pakistan was well aware of the fact that it could not directly fight with India and hence it was engaged in proxy war against India. Deshraj Karnwal said that he would go to Wagah border and hold a protest against Pakistan soon! Pradeep Batra said that India ought to observe 14 February as Martyrs Day instead of celebrating it as Valentine Day. He also announced that he would donate his six months’ salary towards the welfare of the families of the martyrs. PCC Chief Pritam Singh said that the entire country ought to stand in support of the Union Government and the armed forces in order to give a tough message to the enemies of the nation.
Among those who condoled the death of the CRPF jawans included Cabinet Ministers Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat and Subodh Uniyal besides other members of the House including Sahdev Pundir, Suresh Rathore, Dilip Singh Rawat, Munni Devi, Kedar Singh Rawat, Meena, Surendra Singh Jeena, Manoj Rawat, Govind Singh Kunjwal, Furqan Ahmed, Harish Rawat, Sanjeev Arya, Naveen Dumka, Chandan Ramdas, Balwan Bhauryal, Umesh Sharma Kau, Sanjay Gupta and Puran Fartyal.