Congress has critised the Government for convening curtailed Winter Session of the Assembly which is to commence on December 12 and finish on December 15. The party is of the view that in such a short duration no significant legislative exercise can be done.
“The Winter Session is virtually of just three days as no business is transacted on the first day. There are 81 legislators in the House and it is not possible for them to present problems of the people within this period. The Session should be sufficiently lengthy. But the Government is just interested in getting its supplementary budget passed and has nothing to do with problems concerning the people,” said Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Alamgir Alam on Thursday.
Notably, the issue has concerned even treasury benches with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Saryu Roy expressing his displeasure over the Government calling such a short session. The Opposition has often been of the view that in lack of time several important Bills affecting lives and livelihood of the people get nod of the House without proper discussion and debate. Meanwhile Speaker Dinesh Oraon has called a meeting of the Opposition parties on Friday where the issue is expected to be discussed prominently.
“We have seen the fate of CNT-SPT Bill when it was retuned by the Governor on technical points.
However the Government went on bringing Land Acquisition Amendment Bill deriding the social impact assessment clause. It seems the Government wants to pass legislations in similar fashion to save itself from scrutiny of any kind,” said the senior leader who has served as Speaker of the Assembly in the past.
Alam, at the same time, also admitted that often the House gets disrupted by consistent pressure from the Opposition but blamed the Government for that. “The Opposition members are compelled to do that since they do not get proper answer to the questions they raise. Often their questions are neglected,” said the CLP leader.
The party, nonetheless, has planned to raise pertinent issues relating to amendment in the Land Acquisition Act, Government’s failure in providing income to farmers 1.5 times more than their input cost, growing cases of farmers’ suicides, children deaths due to malnutrition, cases against political leaders and growing crime graph in capital Ranchi.
“We have sufficient issues at hand. The Government will have to provide answers for that. The issues are not only of the Congress but entire Opposition in the form of JMM, JVM and the Left leaders would come together in one voice,” he added.