Rashid’s Parliament gig to cost him Rs 1.45 lakh per day
Hours after Baramulla MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh attended the first day of the second half of Parliament's Budget session "in-custody", the Delhi High Court declined urgent hearing on his plea seeking a waiver of Rs 1.45 lakh travel expense condition for Lok Sabha attendance. The plea will be heard on Friday.
After he was allowed by the High Court on Wednesday to attend Parliament, Rashid's counsel received an email from Tihar Jail informing him that he would need to pay nearly Rs 1,45,736 per day for travel between prison and Parliament -- totalling Rs 8,74,416 for the six-day session.
In an application for urgent modification of the High Court order mandating this payment, Rashid said he did not have the financial means for the same and his family had only managed to arrange one day’s expenses through crowdfunding. Rashid's petition also said no such expenses were imposed when he attended Parliament earlier to take oath or during the July 2024 and February 2025 sessions. The Chief Justice of the High Court declined urgent hearing to Rashid and the case would now be heard on Friday.
In Lok Sabha, meanwhile, Rashid humoured Road Transport Minister Nitik Gadkari during the question hour and told him, "Everyone is a fan of your work and working style."
In response to Rashid's queries, Gadkari also informed the House that 60% work at Asia's largest Zojila tunnel was complete.
The minister added that 105 tunnels were under construction in Jammu and Kashmir, of which 36 were on the Jammu-Srinagar route alone.
"Of these 36, 22 are complete," Gadkari said on Rashid's question whether the ministry would grant National Highway status to Kupwara-Karnah road, Bandipora-Gurez road and Kupwara Keran road in Jammu and Kashmir and give money for their widening.
Gadkari said works worth Rs 2 lakh crore are under way in the UT, with Asia's largest Zojila tunnel 60% complete.
"Zojila's estimated cost was Rs 12,000 crore but we floated five tenders and are building it for Rs 5,500 crore," Gadkari informed the Lok Sabha.
He said it is a state-of-the-art work at minus 8 degrees temperature.
Noting that under the BJP-led NDA Government, backward regions across Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and North East had been prioritised, Gadkari said with the tunnel work in Jammu and Kashmir, the Jammu-Srinagar travel time would be cut from nine hours to three and Katra-Delhi to six hours.
The minister also assured the MP of consideration of proposals to grant National Highway status to the aforementioned roads.
Rashid came to Parliament in a Tihar police escort and was handed over to Lok Sabha security that marshalled him into the chambers.
As directed by the High Court, he was not allowed to use any phone.
Rashid secured Parliament attendance on Wednesday after dropping his insistence on interim bail or custody parole and sought to attend Lok Sabha in-custody.
