Question hour holds little appeal for Opposition

Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 22

The numbers in the Opposition seem to be dwindling during the question hour in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha which is gradually being reduced to a BJP versus BJP affair because of the absence of the former.

The proceedings for the day during the ongoing budget session began with most of the Opposition MLAs “missing” and the benches wearing a deserted look. While hardly any INLD legislators were present, Congress MLAs gradually trickled in.

This prompted Health Minister Anil Vij to take a dig at the Opposition as he stated, “The entire Opposition is demoralised. They don’t come to the House anymore. There are a few INLD legislators and zero Congress MLAs. The Opposition seems to have been wiped out. We need to give them a farewell and send them packing.” Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma too had a remark to make, saying that the Opposition had been pushed to the sidelines and was no longer flowing in the Ganga of politics. This invited peals of laughter from the treasury benches.

Leader of Opposition Abhay Chautala, just like yesterday, arrived late while Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhry was not present in the House on both days. Kuldeep Bishnoi and Renuka Bishnoi, too, have not been present since the House began. Congress MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala, after his appearance on the day the session began, has been absent.

Yesterday, after missing his question due to his late arrival, Congress MLA Karan Dalal blamed the traffic bottleneck at the entry and claimed that at the Assembly parking, there was little space for legislators.

Meanwhile, during the question hour, Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar, in reply to a question raised by INLD MLA Ram Chand Kamboj, said that during 2017-18, a premium of Rs 208.98 crore had been collected from the farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, whereas Rs 849.73 crore was disbursed as compensation amount to farmers.

Dhankar said the compensation amount for the loss of cattle due to an unknown disease in some villages of Sirsa in 2017 had been sent to the office of DC.

Anil Vij said the Civil Hospital of Ambala city would be upgraded to 300-bedded hospital for which an administrative approval of Rs. 64.71 crore had been accorded.

Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said that during 2018-19, the government had distributed Rs106.39 crore as scholarship to the Scheduled Caste students of government schools from classes 1 to 12, and soon the remaining SC students would get it too. Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain said there was a proposal to install 210 additional tube wells to meet the shortage of water in Faridabad.

Disparity in land relief taken up 

The zero hour saw members raise the issue of disparity in land acquisition awards vociferously. Various legislators from the Opposition benches pointed out that compensation in adjoining villages differed causing resentment among the people. Revenue Minister Capt Abhimanyu said the disparity arose because of the difference in collector rate of the districts. The members said that there was a need for rationalising the policy.