Lawmakers disrupt House over Palamu
Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Vijay Deo Jha | Ranchi

Assembly Speaker CP Singh must have been caught in a Catch 22 situation wondering whether to snub or sympathise with legislators from his home pocket Palamu for taking the Government to task for ignoring drought-stricken Palamu in the annual Budget.

He snubbed them after Congress MLAs KN Tripathi (Daltonganj) and Chandrasekhar Dubey (Bishrampur) and others rushed to the well of the House and threatened to disrupt the proceedings.

As the session began on Tuesday, the Congress MLAs supported by their other Congress colleagues Ananth Pratap Dev and Sawna Lakra accused the Government for not making any budgetary provision to tackle drought in Palamu; one of the worst-affected division in Jharkhand.

The Speaker’s repeated call for calm went unheard forcing Singh to adjourn the House. An exasperated Singh denounced Tripathi and Dubey’s behaviour and cautioned them not to undermine his authority, lest they planned to hold the House to ransom.

Singh’s repeated assurance to take up the case of Palamu had no takers. “You cannot appropriate the right of rest of the MLAs by disturbing the House. Such bullying tactics will not work, mind you.”

The Speaker expressed his annoyance during an interaction with the media on the sidelines of the Session. “A few people disturbed the House and broke decorum. They entered the House casually pointing fingers at the office of the Speaker and threatened to disrupt the proceedings, which is not good. May good sense prevail upon them.”

Initially, he even refused to accept an adjournment motion brought by Tripathi and CPI (ML) MLA Vinod Singh, for a special debate on the Palamu issue.

The second Session too remained sorry affair though without any disruption. Both Treasury and Opposition demanded the Government take a final decision over the MLA Area Development Fund which is dormant from the past one year. As the House resumed the Session RJD MLA Sanjay Singh, Yogendra Saw and Dubey (Congress) and Bandhu Tirkey rushed to the well of the House and demanded the Government take a final decision on the matter.

From the last one year no amount has been released from the said fund leading the MLAs to secure any fund for the development of their respective constituency.

Intervening in the matter, the JVM MLA Pradeep Yadav said the Government should not keep the MLAs waiting. “Either you continue with it or take a decision to abolish it but do not delay. MLAs are facing the barbs of the people everyday,” he said.

Yadav was supported by BJP MLA Raghuwar Das and JD (U) MLA Sudha Chaudhary. Explaining the Government’s position, Deputy Chief Minister Sudesh Mahato said that the matter will be taken up during the cabinet meeting scheduled on Tuesday evening.