Question Hour
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 8 Sep: In a sharp contrast to what had happened on Wednesday in the Uttarakhand Assembly during the ongoing Monsoon Session, when Question Hour had been held rather peacefully, it was rather stormy today.
Members cornered Urban Affairs Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal over the Smart City Project and Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi over payment of compensation to the farmers for disaster induced losses. The members also tried to corner Sugarcane Development, Sugar Industry and Animal Husbandry Minister Saurabh Bahuguna, but he managed to escape rather lightly.
In response to a short notice question by Gopal Singh Rana, Urban Development Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal informed the House that the Centre had chosen 100 cities in the first phase of Smart City Projects and it was in June 2017 that Dehradun was included in the project. He stated that an amount of Rs 394.50 crores had been released by the Centre for this project. He claimed that about 70 percent work had been completed and the balance would be completed by June 2024. Under the Area based Development component, 10 wards of Dehradun would be fully covered by June, next year, under the Smart City Project.
In response to a supplementary question by Pritam Singh, Aggarwal stated that an amount of Rs 1000 crores has been sanctioned for the Smart City Project and, of this, fifty percent share has to be borne by the State Government. Against the amount of Rs 394 released by the Centre, the state had also released Rs 241 crores. In all, 14 Executing Agencies are working on the Smart City Project in the state. Against the total amount of Rs 1,000 crores approved under the project, the total expenditure so far has been Rs 665 crores.
He claimed that, in Dehradun, the Parade Ground Project, Smart Toilets Projects, etc., have been completed, while the work on sewage and drainage plans is underway. Vinod Chamoli, Yashpal Arya and Pritam Singh were not satisfied with the response, however. They also asked what difference the completed projects under Smart City Project had brought to the lives of the citizens and the response given failed to satisfy them.
In response to a starred question by Anupama Rawat, Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi informed the House that unseasonal and excessive rains had affected crops in around 834 hectares of farm area. A total of 7136 farmers have been paid ex-gratia amount of Rs 1.71 crores. Anupama Rawat was not satisfied with the response and claimed that a large number of farmers in rural Haridwar had not been paid any compensation for the crop losses. She also said that not only the crops but properties like houses, etc., were also damaged in the district for which also only a paltry amount of relief had been released. Mohammed Shehzad, Mamata Rakesh agreed with her on this. The opposition asked how much compensation was given block-wise in Haridwar. The minister could not give figures on this. The opposition was not satisfied with the reply from Minister Ganesh Joshi and created ruckus in the House.
In response to a starred question by Mamata Rakesh, Sugarcane Development & Sugar Industry Minister Saurabh Bahuguna informed the house that there are four licensed factories and around 400 crusher (Kolhu) units producing jaggery. He said that the government had come out with a scheme under MSME under which the farmers could get themselves registered and avail benefits if their turnover is less that Rs 5 crores per annum. To this, Vinod Chamoli asked if the government wanted to introduce Inspector Raj once again and start regulating the farmers and their small units. Mohammed Shehzad claimed that this would lead to harassment of the farmers. He also pointed out Kolhu units were not operated individually by the farmers but by small groups of farmers collectively. Bahuguna sought to clarify that there was no intention of the government to bring back any Inspector Raj or introduce regular inspections or raids by officials, but the government wished to cooperate with them and bring greater transparency.
