Monsoon Session of U’khand Assembly begins
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 5 Sep: The monsoon session of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly began today. The first day was reserved for tributes to the late Chandan Ramdas, the cabinet minister who died of cancer this April. Tributes were also paid to the late Kunwar Singh Negi, who was a two-time MLA from Badri Kedar Assembly seats in 1980 and 1984, respectively, in undivided UP and had died in Dehradun in June this year.
No Question Hour was held today and no other business was conducted in the House, which was adjourned till 11 a.m. tomorrow following the passage of the condolence motions on the demise of Chandan Ramdas and Kunwar Singh Negi.
As the House assembled on the first day of the Monsoon Session at 11 a.m. today, a condolence motion was placed in the House informing about the demise of both the leaders.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was the first to speak on the motion. He described Chandan Ramdas as a hardworking and hugely popular leader, who worked tirelessly for the development of his constituency. He said that the demise of Ramdas was huge loss to the whole state as he remained always devoted to the public interest. He worked hard to strengthen the party. While it was due to his persistent efforts that Bageshwar had been developed well but there were several other things that he wanted to do. Dhami promised that his government would carry on the unfinished agenda.
He also described the late Kunwar Singh Negi as a popular leader, who played a significant role in the development of the state even after retiring from active politics.
Leader of the Opposition Yashpal Arya described the late Chandan Ramdas as an easy going, simple and down to earth leader. He said that, despite being seriously ill, Chandan Ramdas remained engaged in development work. Arya also paid rich tribute to Kunwar Singh Negi, describing some of his contributions before the House.
MLA and former minister Bishan Singh Chufal recalled his personal relationship with the late Chandan Ramdas. He also reminded that Kunwar Singh Negi had reached the Uttar Pradesh Assembly by winning as an independent candidate from Chamoli district seat.
Government ministers Satpal Maharaj, Premchand Aggarwal, Subodh Uniyal, Dhan Singh Rawat, Saurabh Bahuguna and several MLAs from the ruling party as well as the Opposition paid tribute to the late Chandan Ramdas and Kunwar Singh Negi. MLAs and ministers observed that Chandan Ramdas won the assembly elections four consecutive times after 2007. They also reminded that Kunwar Singh Negi was very close to former CM Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and had been elected as a member of the UP Assembly twice.
After this, Speaker Ritu Khanduri adjourned the proceedings of the House till 11 a.m. tomorrow.
Supplementary budget to be tabled today in House
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 5 Sep: There is a strong possibility of uproar on the second day of the session tomorrow. The first day of the House did not see any business being conducted as it was reserved for tributes to two leaders who died recently. However, tomorrow the Treasury Bench may have to face strong criticism and uproar from the Opposition members on several issues such as disaster management, encroachment, appointment of Lokayukta, besides the recruitment scam.
Finance Minister Premchand Aggarwal will present the supplementary budget on the floor of the House tomorrow. Sources claim that the government will table supplementary demands to the tune of over Rs 11,000 crores tomorrow. This is the first supplementary budget that the government is bringing for the current year. In addition, another important bill likely to be tabled tomorrow is related to 10 percent horizontal reservations for the statehood activists or their dependants in state government jobs. A bill in this regard had been passed in the past but it had failed to get approval of the governor on technical grounds, earlier, and was withdrawn by the government. A new bill has been prepared and will be tabled tomorrow.
Question Hour will be held on the remaining days of the session. In all, 614 questions have been received by the Assembly Secretariat. Question Hour is when, not only the members of the Opposition, but also those from the ruling party are often seen grilling the ministers, often revealing lack of adequate homework by them. CM Dhami has urged his cabinet colleagues to come well prepared for the Question Hour. It remains to be seen how well they come prepared.
The annual audit report of the Finance Department will also be presented in the House tomorrow. Sources say that 7 September has been declared as a holiday on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami and, therefore, the House will not sit on that day. The last day will be 8 September, when the Supplementary Budget will be passed. Tomorrow, the Business Advisory Committee meeting will also be held under chairmanship of Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan to take a call on further business in the House.
