Day 1 of two-day special Punjab assembly session adjourned after obit references

The opening day of the two-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha was adjourned within eight minutes on Monday after Speaker Rana KP Singh read out seven obituary references besides the names of the four farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh on October 3

The opening day of the two-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha was adjourned within eight minutes on Monday after Speaker Rana KP Singh read out seven obituary references besides the names of the four farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh on October 3.

Security personnel outside the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on the first day of the special session of the assembly on Monday. The session has been adjourned for Thursday. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

The names of the four farmers were included in the obituary list after state cabinet minister Pargat Singh and leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema of the Aam Aadmi Party raised the matter.

The names of the seven obituary references are former minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan, former parliamentary secretary Ravinder Singh Sandhu, IFFCO chairman Balwinder Singh Nakai and freedom fighters Niranjan Singh and Avinash Chander. Naib subedar Jaswinder Singh and sepoy Manjit Singh were also remembered on the occasion. Both died in the line of duty fighting insurgents in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on October 11.

Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab unit protesting against the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government on the unemployment and delay in pension disbursement, outside the assembly in Chandigarh on Monday. (Sanjeev Sharma.HT)

Second day of session on November 11

The House was adjourned for a day and will resume on Thursday.

The Punjab cabinet had on Sunday decided to extend the special session of the Vidhan Sabha by a day. Earlier, the assembly session had been convened on November 8.

“Keeping in view multifarious legislative business/obligations, the cabinet decided to extend the 16th special session of the 15th Punjab Vidhan Sabha by another day on November 11 (Thursday),” an official statement said.

Shiromani Akali Dal leaders outside the Punjab assembly on the first day of the session on Monday. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

BSF jurisdiction matter to be discussed

Last month, the Cabinet had approved summoning of the special session to oppose the Centre’s notification extending the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) along the international border and the Centre’s three farm laws.

There will be off-days on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Thursday, the matter pertaining to opposing the Centre’s notification to extend the BSF jurisdiction and legislation business will be taken up.

The Union government had amended the BSF Act to authorise the border guarding force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a 50-km stretch, up from the existing 15 km, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.

All political parties except the BJP last month decided to reject the Centre’s notification of extending the jurisdiction of the BSF by calling a special session of the Punjab assembly.

At that time, Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi had also said that the Centre’s three laws on farming would be rejected in the assembly session.