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Journalism of Courage
The ruling SAD-BJP alliance Friday demanded that the Speaker mark as absent the Congress MLAs who have been boycotting the Vidhan Sabha but are availing allowances. The Treasury bench also sought to bring a privilege motion against the Opposition Congress,which continued to boycott the Assembly proceedings for the eighth consecutive day today,protesting against the suspension of its nine MLAs from the House last week.
However,Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal refused to carry through any such move.
Immediately after the Question Hour,Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia,supported by other ruling party members,demanded that a privilege motion be brought against absent Congress MLAs for availing all the allowances due to the legislators.
Majithia said the government was paying Congress MLAs Rs 15 per/km for travelling from their home towns to Chandigarh for the session.
Claiming allowances by Congress MLAs despite not attending the ongoing session is a loot of the state exchequer,which is a condemnable act, he said adding that the exchequer is bearing a burden of Rs 4 lakh per day on account of allowances claimed by absent Opposition party members.
However,the Speaker was not impressed. I have been a Speaker in the parliament also. There is no rule which provides for stopping a member from marking his presence. Even when the members are boycotting the session. They have to be marked present, he said.
Joining the issue,Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Mohan Mittal said a decision should be taken against the absentee MLAs.
When Majithia again put forth the same demand forcefully,the Speaker,almost snubbing him,said,If you have to bring in a motion do it. I have nothing to do with it. Later,during general discussion on budget estimates for the 2013-14 fiscal,MLA from Amritsar (East),Navjot Kaur Sidhu sought separate budget for drug inspectors,extra incentives including conveyance allowance,academic allowance for doctors and centralised forensic labs and counselling and rehabilitation centres for drug addicts.
Earlier,MLA Sohan Singh Thandal from Chabbewal constituency in Hoshiarpur,left the House in a huff when he found that his name was missing from the list of speakers.
Question Hour
Not a single paisa spent on free books
In reply to a question asked by Tarlochan Singh,the welfare ministers reply reflected that not a single paisa has been spent by his department for providing free books to SC girls studying in classes XI and XII. In 2010-11,Rs 100 lakh was allotted in the budget,but no money was spent. In 2011-12,Rs 80 lakh allotted remained unspent and in 2012-13 another Rs 80 lakh remained unspent.
Workers welfare cess unspent
In reply to a question asked by Nirmal Singh,the labour minister s reply reflected abysmal utlisation of cess for welfare of workers collected under the Building and Construction Act. From 2001 to 2012,the state collected Rs 333.4 crore,but spent only Rs 1.74 crore. Out of this amount,almost Rs 60 lakh was spent on advertisements that gave information of the welfare schemes!
Punjabs growth rate lowest
In reply to a question asked by Ajit Singh Mofar,the finance ministers reply reflected that Punjabs growth rate at 5.19 per cent of the GSDP was the lowest when compared to Haryana (7.10),Himachal Pradesh (6.24),Jammu & Kashmir (7.01) and Uttarkhand (6.87).
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