Govt planning budget session next month

By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 19 May: Preparations have started in earnest at the government level regarding the upcoming assembly budget session. While, the initial plan of the government, according to sources, was to hold the budget session of the state assembly in July, the government is now mulling holding the session in second week of June now. However, it is still not clear whether the budget session will be held in Gairsain or Dehradun, although the government had announced earlier that the budget session would be held in Gairsain. The sources claim that there is a strong likelihood of the budget session being held in Gairsain.
As part of the preparations, days have been fixed for the ministers responding to the questions of the members of the House during the Question Hour. As per the orders issued in this respect, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal will respond to the questions related to the portfolios held by them. On Tuesday, it will be the turn of Cabinet Minister Satpal Maharaj. Cabinet Ministers Rekha Arya and Chandan Ramdas will respond to the questions related to their departments on Wednesday. On Thursday, Cabinet Ministers Dhan Singh Rawat and Subodh Uniyal will respond to the questions related to their departments, while on Friday, it will be the turn of Cabinet Ministers Ganesh Joshi and Saurabh Bahuguna.
It may be recalled that the CM holds charge of some important departments including Industries, home, revenue, power, drinking water, labour & employment, Ayush, IT, Science & Technology, Environment in respect of which questions are generally asked in every session. Prem Chand Aggarwal, besides having the charge of Parliamentary Affairs, also holds charge of finance, commerce, urban development and housing. Satpal Maharaj holds charge of PWD, Tourism, Religious Affairs, Panchayati Raj, Irrigation and Minor Irrigation. Dhan Singh Rawat holds charge of health, Education and Higher Education, Cooperatives besides several other departments. Ganesh Joshi holds charge of departments like Agriculture, Horticulture, Sainik Kalyan. Subodh Uniyal holds charge of Forests and Technical Education. Rekha Arya holds charge of departments such as Women Empowerment, Food & Civil Supplies, Sports and Youth Welfare. Chandan Ramdas holds charge of departments such as Transport, Social Welfare, Village Industry & Khadi, etc. Saurabh Bahuguna holds charge of sugarcane and animal husbandry and skill development.