A day before the one-day session of the Punjab assembly, Congress leader and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday suggested 17 issues of public importance to Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan for debate, which include law and order, discontentment over sacrilege issue, ₹1,000 per month to women and lumpy skin disease.
In a letter to the speaker, Bajwa suggested that these issues merit deliberations on the floor of the House, and should be included for consultation and decision in the business advisory committee. The AAP government has already proposed to take up legislative business, including issues of goods and services tax (GST), stubble burning and power scenario. The Congress leader also listed for debate discontentment over “dithering and ambiguous stand” of the government on SYL dispute with Haryana, discontentment on sacrilege issue, growing discontentment over unemployment amongst youth, threat to national security due to failure of the state government over mining, and ₹2,180 crore fine imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Punjab for failure to comply with the guidelines of solid waste management. Among other issues raised by the LOP are unabated stress-related deaths of farmers, non-availability of construction material at reasonable rates in the absence of clear-cut policies on mining, stunted growth of rice, distress sale of moong crop by farmers and non-payment of the promised ₹1,500 per acre to farmers taking to direct sowing of rice (DSR). Cabinet minister Aman Arora later said that they will consider the issues listed by the leader of opposition for discussion in the session.