SAD leaders meet Speaker, seek 3-week House sitting

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 11

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday asked Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP Singh to hold a three-week operative Budget session so that burning issues such as unprecedented increase in farmer suicides, government’s “failure” to implement “Ghar Ghar Rozgaar” scheme, “discrimination” against Dalits, manhandling of women teachers, non-release of DA to state employees and “increased tax burden” on people could be discussed threadbare.

A SAD delegation, including former ministers Bikram Singh Majithia, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and former chief parliamentary secretary NK Sharma, met the Speaker and submitted a letter demanding that the present seven-day Budget session be extended to 21 operative days. They urged the Speaker to ensure that the Congress did not “ride roughshod over the aspirations of the common man” and all public issues were allowed to be raised in the forthcoming session.

Briefing mediapersons about the meeting, Majithia said farm suicides had reached the 800 figure and the issue should be discussed as victim families were also not getting the promised Rs 10-lakh compensation and government job.

Govt humiliating jobless youth, alleges YAD

Barnala: Activists and leaders of The Youth Akali Dal (YAD) leaders on Monday held a protest here, alleging that unemployed youth were being harassed in the name of job fairs. “Youths are facing harassment as the authorities are calling them to job fairs where they are given appointment letters of various companies, but when they approach the companies, they are refused jobs. We will intensify our agitation in the coming days,” said Simar Partap Singh Barnala, member, YAD core committee.