Here’s why Gujarat model of development is praised everywhere
FILE PHOTO
The longest day in the history of Gujarat Assembly wrapped up at 3.40 am on Saturday after the MLAs — who had started the session at 10 am on Friday — pulled an allnighter and trooped through 16.10 hours to finish the House proceedings.
The 14thGujarat Legislative Assembly broke its June 1, 1993 record which was for the longest sitting of 12.09 hours on a single day. Over 100 members were present in the House to discuss 9 Bills (see box) that were scheduled for Friday. DyCM Nitin Patel, MoS Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama along with BJP MLAs Kuber Dindor, Naresh Patel, R C Faldu and Congress MLAs Mohansinh Rathwa, Opposition leader Paresh Dhanani , Shailesh Parmar to name a few stayed in the House the longest and participated in most of the discussions. After the marathon session ended, Speaker Rajendra Trivedi thanked all the MLAs and congratulated them for conducting a long and healthy discussion.
Trivedi told Mirror, “If I have to give an award for the entire Budget session, it would be handed over to Chhota Udepur MLA Mohansinh Rathwa for his dedication, sincerity and grace in the House. There were many other members who participated well throughout the session, and even during the last day despite it turning into a 16-hour long session.”
He also acknowledged the active involvement of Congress Vav MLA Geniben Thakor and BJP Gondal MLA Geetaben Jadeja. Sources told Mirror that most of these MLA had spent over 15 hours in the Assembly on Friday. They also said that BJP Dabhoi MLA Shailesh Mehta was probably one of the least contributing members as he would often come late, attend Assembly for a short time and leave.
Trivedi added, “Cabinet Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma was in the House till late and was involved actively all through the last day. Pradeepsinh Jadeja and Cabinet minister R C Faldu sincerely marked their attendance throughout the session.”
Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel was a livewire throughout the session. So much so that Opposition Leader Paresh Dhanani mentioned him in his speech, and thanked him for keeping the last and the longest session lively with his sense of humour and involvement till the very end.
Dhanani delivered his speech at 3.34 am in the House and congratulated all the members, Speaker and everyone involved in the Assembly proceedings. He said, “Such historic moments can occur only when the ruling party and the opposition, both, worry about the State. The members held the discussion in a healthy and spirited manner.”
Dhanani told Mirror that he was in the Assembly throughout the entire session. He said, “Laws decide the future of the nation so my party members and I were present in the House. We had asked for the session to be extended by a day as this would have increased the scope of discussion in the House.”
Interestingly, Dhanani delivered his speech opposing bill to increase stamp duty for two hours on Thursday. The bill was proposed at 3pm and the House was scheduled to get over by 6 pm on Thursday after the discussion of 8 other bills.
Following Dhanani’s speech, the Speaker extended the time till 10 pm. Assembly could not discuss 5 of the bills so it was carried forward to be discussed later. Eventually, 5 bills from Thursday and 4 new bills were discussed on Friday that went on till 3.40 am on Saturday.
Bhupendrasinh Chudasma who was present in both the record-breaking sessions of 1993 and 2019 told Mirror, “Since I presented the Education and Revenue department bills, I had to participate actively till end. Except for one instance, the Opposition did not walk out of the House. I have seen this for the first time since 1990.
This means, the Speaker was neutral, the ruling government performed well and the Opposition gave the respect to ruling party. The education bills and revenue bill I presented got passed unanimously."
Talking about the lengthy session, Chudasama said, “The work advisory committee which has members of the ruling and opposition parties decide when to table and discuss bills in the session. So the decision is unanimous.”
♦ Nine bills discussed
The House discussed the Gujarat Irrigation and Drainage (Amendment) Bill and The Gujarat Domestic Water supply (Protection) Bill till 7 pm on Friday. Later, they passed The Gujarat Private Universities (Second Amendment) Bill, The Gujarat Agricultural Universities (Amendment) Bill, The Gujarat Land Revenue (Second Amendment) Bill, The Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Laws (Amendment) Bill, The Gujarat Local Authorities and Town Planning Laws (Amendment) Bill, and The Indian Institute of Teachers Education (Amendment) Bill were passed on the last day.
The longest discussion took place to object first two bills, one about Gujarat Irrigation and Drainage bill. Congress opposed punishment for unauthorized use of Narmada water from canal calling it anti agriculture bill. Congress also opposed Domestic water supply protection bill that proposed setting up water meters to carry out annual water audit in all Nagarpalika, District Panchayat and corporations across the state.
♦ Q&A time
The maximum number of questions discussed in the hour-long Question and Answer session throughout the Budget session was 17. The lowest number was 2.The longest time over a question was taken by 35 members of the House who discussed the topic of farm insurance for over 54 minutes.
♦ Being human
When 72-year-old Congress MLA Mohansinh Rathwa got up to speak a couple of days ago, he began shivering out of weakness. Noticing his condition, Speaker Rajendra Trivedi permitted him to sit and deliver his speech. In one of the sessions, Rathwa once again felt shivery, this time due to the air-conditioning. The Speaker asked for a shawl and sent it to the Chhota Udepur MLA while the House was in session. On Friday, when Rathwa felt uncomfortable wearing a shawl, the Speaker requested another MLA to swap his seat with Rathwa so that he could feel warmer.
The 14th
Trivedi told Mirror, “If I have to give an award for the entire Budget session, it would be handed over to Chhota Udepur MLA Mohansinh Rathwa for his dedication, sincerity and grace in the House. There were many other members who participated well throughout the session, and even during the last day despite it turning into a 16-hour long session.”
He named BJP Wadhwan MLA Dhanjibhai Patel, BJP Sayajigunj MLA Jitendra Sukhadia, Sayajigunj MLA Jitendra Sukhadia Santrampur MLA Kuberbhai Dindor, Congress Mandvi MLA Anand Chaudhary, Congress Rajula MLA Amrish Der, Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani for being active not just on Friday, but throughout the entire Assembly session.
He also acknowledged the active involvement of Congress Vav MLA Geniben Thakor and BJP Gondal MLA Geetaben Jadeja. Sources told Mirror that most of these MLA had spent over 15 hours in the Assembly on Friday. They also said that BJP Dabhoi MLA Shailesh Mehta was probably one of the least contributing members as he would often come late, attend Assembly for a short time and leave.
Trivedi added, “Cabinet Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma was in the House till late and was involved actively all through the last day. Pradeepsinh Jadeja and Cabinet minister R C Faldu sincerely marked their attendance throughout the session.”
Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel was a livewire throughout the session. So much so that Opposition Leader Paresh Dhanani mentioned him in his speech, and thanked him for keeping the last and the longest session lively with his sense of humour and involvement till the very end.
Dhanani delivered his speech at 3.34 am in the House and congratulated all the members, Speaker and everyone involved in the Assembly proceedings. He said, “Such historic moments can occur only when the ruling party and the opposition, both, worry about the State. The members held the discussion in a healthy and spirited manner.”
Dhanani told Mirror that he was in the Assembly throughout the entire session. He said, “Laws decide the future of the nation so my party members and I were present in the House. We had asked for the session to be extended by a day as this would have increased the scope of discussion in the House.”
Interestingly, Dhanani delivered his speech opposing bill to increase stamp duty for two hours on Thursday. The bill was proposed at 3pm and the House was scheduled to get over by 6 pm on Thursday after the discussion of 8 other bills.
Following Dhanani’s speech, the Speaker extended the time till 10 pm. Assembly could not discuss 5 of the bills so it was carried forward to be discussed later. Eventually, 5 bills from Thursday and 4 new bills were discussed on Friday that went on till 3.40 am on Saturday.
Bhupendrasinh Chudasma who was present in both the record-breaking sessions of 1993 and 2019 told Mirror, “Since I presented the Education and Revenue department bills, I had to participate actively till end. Except for one instance, the Opposition did not walk out of the House. I have seen this for the first time since 1990.
This means, the Speaker was neutral, the ruling government performed well and the Opposition gave the respect to ruling party. The education bills and revenue bill I presented got passed unanimously."
Talking about the lengthy session, Chudasama said, “The work advisory committee which has members of the ruling and opposition parties decide when to table and discuss bills in the session. So the decision is unanimous.”
FILE PHOTO: Speaker Trivedi also acknowledged the active involvement of Cong Vav MLA Geniben Thakor and BJP Gondal MLA Geetaben Jadeja
♦ Nine bills discussed
The House discussed the Gujarat Irrigation and Drainage (Amendment) Bill and The Gujarat Domestic Water supply (Protection) Bill till 7 pm on Friday. Later, they passed The Gujarat Private Universities (Second Amendment) Bill, The Gujarat Agricultural Universities (Amendment) Bill, The Gujarat Land Revenue (Second Amendment) Bill, The Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Laws (Amendment) Bill, The Gujarat Local Authorities and Town Planning Laws (Amendment) Bill, and The Indian Institute of Teachers Education (Amendment) Bill were passed on the last day.
The longest discussion took place to object first two bills, one about Gujarat Irrigation and Drainage bill. Congress opposed punishment for unauthorized use of Narmada water from canal calling it anti agriculture bill. Congress also opposed Domestic water supply protection bill that proposed setting up water meters to carry out annual water audit in all Nagarpalika, District Panchayat and corporations across the state.
♦ Q&A time
The maximum number of questions discussed in the hour-long Question and Answer session throughout the Budget session was 17. The lowest number was 2.
♦ Being human
When 72-year-old Congress MLA Mohansinh Rathwa got up to speak a couple of days ago, he began shivering out of weakness. Noticing his condition, Speaker Rajendra Trivedi permitted him to sit and deliver his speech. In one of the sessions, Rathwa once again felt shivery, this time due to the air-conditioning. The Speaker asked for a shawl and sent it to the Chhota Udepur MLA while the House was in session. On Friday, when Rathwa felt uncomfortable wearing a shawl, the Speaker requested another MLA to swap his seat with Rathwa so that he could feel warmer.
There were many other members who participated throughout the session, and were active during the last day, despite it turning into a 16-hour long session
Since I presented the Education and Revenue bills, I had to be active till the end. The Opposition walked out only once. I have seen this for the first time since 1990.
Such historic moments can occur only when the ruling party and the opposition, both, worry about the State. The members held the discussion in a healthy and spirited manner
(Right top - Bottom) Rajendra Trivedi, Speaker, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Education minister, Paresh Dhanani, Leaderof Oppn in Assembly
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