Farmers Movement Archive

Amid noisy scenes, oppn corners govt on various issues

Chandigarh: The fourth day of the budget session was rocked by protests on various issues by SAD and AAP in the Punjab legislative assembly on Thursday. SAD and AAP members raised slogans as they tried to corner the government before staging separate walkouts on the issue of rising fuel prices and non-implementation of the 85th amendment of the Constitution. Akali leader Sharanjit Singh Dhillon raised the issue of increasing fuel prices, saying it was affecting all the sections of the society, including farmers, who are on the streets in protest against the contentious three farm laws introduced by the central government. He demanded that the state government slash Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel, which was among the highest in the country. Dhillon informed the House that the government was charging 27.5% VAT in petrol and 17.5% on diesel. SAD leader Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra also asked the government to take steps for reducing fuel prices as Punjab is an agriculture state. Failing to get a response from the treasury benches, the Akali leaders charged into the well of the House before walking out. Send bureaucrat to jail, demands Cheema The ruling party faced the ire of opposition over non-implementation of the 85th amendment of the Constitution, to extend reservation in promotions to scheduled caste employees. During the zero hour, SAD member Baldev Khaira demanded privilege proceedings against Congress MLA Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal for misleading the House on the implementation of the amendment. Khaira said the Congress leader had lied in the House on March 3 by saying that the government has implemented the amendment, which was factually incorrect. Leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema said the amendment was passed by the assembly and the governor and despite formal notification, the department of personnel issued a separate notification stopping its implementation. He demanded that the officer who issued the notification be jailed. He also accused the government of not following reservation norms while filling vacant posts on a contractual basis. Minister of social welfare Sadhu Singh Dharamsot acknowledged that the amendment has been approved by the House and assured its implementation at the earliest. However, AAP members raised slogans against the government before staging a walkout. Later in the day, Chabbewal accused Akalis of misleading people on the issue, saying the state government had passed the Punjab Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes (Reservation in services) Amendment Act, 2018, and a letter issued by a department cannot challenge the legislation passed in the assembly. He said he had given an appropriate statement in the House on Wednesday regarding the implementation of 85th Amendment and if there was any lacuna at the administrative level, that would be resolved at the earliest with the intervention of chief minister Amarinder Singh. ‘Get false FIRs against farmers quashed’ AAP legislator Baljinder Kaur demanded that false FIRs registered against farmers be quashed. She accused the BJP-led Union government of putting farmers behind the bars by registering false cases. While sharing the name of some of the farmers who have been put behind bars, she claimed that their family members were not even aware of their whereabouts for weeks. She urged that the state government take up the issue with the Prime Minister and home minister and get the FIRs quashed. ‘Eh gal chalegi, tah door tak jayegi’ Heated argument broke out between health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and Akali MLA Bikram Singh Majithia after the latter took a dig at the former for preferring a private hospital for Covid-19 treatment. Majithia said that had Sidhu opted for a government facility, the confidence of general public in government hospitals would have increased. Sidhu hit back by saying that while he had paid from his own pocket, a member of Majithia’s family had received treatment in a foreign country at government expense. Seeing things getting out of control, assembly speaker Rana K P Singh intervened and asked them both to stop, saying, “Eh gal chalegi, tah door tak jayegi (if raised, this topic will persist).” Vaccine shots for MLAs With the rollout of the third phase of the Covid vaccination drive, SAD’s Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi urged the government to give all the elected representatives vaccine shots on priority. He said as all the MLAs are highly vulnerable to infected (as they meet general public), they should be immunised on priority. The health minister assured of making arrangements for their vaccination after the budget session. Delhi-Katra eway compensation When Congress MLA Rana Gurjeet took up the issue of land acquisition for Delhi-Katra expressway, minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar informed the House that the land’s collector rate has not been reduced. The affected farmers had recently submitted a memorandum to the Punjab chief minister, who had formed a committee comprising the minister of public works department, additional chief secretary (revenue) and additional chief secretary (agriculture). The speaker also urged the minister to ensure that farmers don’t face loss.

The Times of India

2021-03-05

Chandigarh