The Haryana Assembly Monday witnessed an hour-long ruckus during the Zero Hour when Speaker Kanwar Pal disallowed INLD’s adjournment motion on the SYL canal issue, following which the opposition members staged a symbolic walkout from the House.
As soon as the Zero Hour began, INLD’s senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, sought to know from the Speaker the fate of his party’s adjournment motion moved over non-completion of the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal.
However, the Speaker disallowed the motion, saying “the matter is sub-judice and therefore, cannot be taken up in the Assembly for debate.”
Dissatisfied with his reply, Mr. Chautala said, “There is no issue concerning SYL which is pending before courts.”
Congress’ Karan Singh Dalal said, “Employees of various departments are protesting on the streets, but the government has invoked ESMA to crush their democratic right to protest.”
Mr. Chautala also made a mention of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), saying “it has been invoked to create fear among employees so that they do not raise their voice in the future”.
“How can this (SYL) be disallowed...there is nothing pending before court. Is SYL issue not important? Should it not be discussed in the House. First and foremost, this issue should be taken up,” Mr. Chautala said.
Slogans against govt.
Later, the Indian National Lok Dal members raised slogans against government.
The Congress MLAs raised slogans and dubbed the government as “anti-farmers, anti-traders and anti-employees“.
As the ruckus in the House continued, the INLD members staged a symbolic walkout to protest their adjournment motion on SYL being disallowed.