Farmers Movement Archive

Day 1 of two-day special Punjab assembly session adjourned after obit references

The opening day of the two-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha was adjourned within eight minutes on Monday after Speaker Rana KP Singh read out seven obituary references besides the names of the four farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh on October 3. Also read: Lakhimpur Kheri violence: SC unhappy with UP govt report, will appoint ex-HC judge to monitor probeThe names of the four farmers were included in the obituary list after state cabinet minister Pargat Singh and leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema of the Aam Aadmi Party raised the matter. The names of the seven obituary references are former minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan, former parliamentary secretary Ravinder Singh Sandhu, IFFCO chairman Balwinder Singh Nakai and freedom fighters Niranjan Singh and Avinash Chander. Naib subedar Jaswinder Singh and sepoy Manjit Singh were also remembered on the occasion. Both died in the line of duty fighting insurgents in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on October 11. Second day of session on November 11 The House was adjourned for a day and will resume on Thursday. The Punjab cabinet had on Sunday decided to extend the special session of the Vidhan Sabha by a day. Earlier, the assembly session had been convened on November 8. “Keeping in view multifarious legislative business/obligations, the cabinet decided to extend the 16th special session of the 15th Punjab Vidhan Sabha by another day on November 11 (Thursday),” an official statement said.BSF jurisdiction matter to be discussed Last month, the Cabinet had approved summoning of the special session to oppose the Centre’s notification extending the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) along the international border and the Centre’s three farm laws. There will be off-days on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, the matter pertaining to opposing the Centre’s notification to extend the BSF jurisdiction and legislation business will be taken up. The Union government had amended the BSF Act to authorise the border guarding force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a 50-km stretch, up from the existing 15 km, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. All political parties except the BJP last month decided to reject the Centre’s notification of extending the jurisdiction of the BSF by calling a special session of the Punjab assembly. At that time, Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi had also said that the Centre’s three laws on farming would be rejected in the assembly session.

Hindustan Times

08-11-2021

Chandigarh