VS Winter Session
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 23 Dec: On the third day of the assembly session, all 5 bills that had been laid in the House during the first two days were passed. In Zero Hour, Congress legislators led by Qazi Nizamuddin raised the issue of corruption under Rule-58. Nizamuddin and other Congress members levelled serious allegations of corruption against a company allegedly belonging to one of the Chief Minister’s advisors. The Congress members alleged that the government did not seem interested in an inquiry into the allegations despite directions by the RBI.
Initially, Speaker Prem Chand Aggarwal did not permit discussion on this issue, claiming that the matter was sub-judice. However, when the Opposition members persisted with their demands, he allowed the issue to be raised. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Kaushik sought to reject the allegations, but dissatisfied with his response, the opposition MLAs walked out of the House.
Deputy Leader of Opposition Karan Mahra raised the issue of the old pension system in the House under Rule 58 (Calling attention to matters of public importance). While it is true that the new pension system has been in force for many years now, it continues to remain a political issue. Raising the issue, Mahra claimed that the new pension scheme was not in the interest of the government employees. After the discussion under Rule 58 and acceptance of notices by the members under Rules 53 and 300, the House was adjourned till 11 a.m. tomorrow. There will no question hour tomorrow but the day has been reserved for private bills by the members. There is no likelihood of any government business, tomorrow which will be the ultimate day of the winter session. It may be recalled that the government had initially proposed a 3 day session, which was extended by one day at the demand of the opposition members.
Earlier, during Question Hour, opposition members managed to corner Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat with questions related to his departments. Even some Treasury Bench members also cornered Rawat on certain questions. BJP MLA Puran Fartyal said that, if his allegations in respect of corruption related to the Tanakpur Jauljeevi Road were proven to be false, he would retire from politics. He added that he had sent a letter to the CM in this regard.
The bills passed today were the Uttarakhand Public Service (Reservation for Economically Weaker Sections) (Amendment) Bill 2020; Uttarakhand (Uttar Pradesh Land Revenue Act 1901) (Amendment) Bill 2020; Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission (Amendment) Bill 2020; Uttarakhand Martyrs’ Dependents Grant Bill 2020.
