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Uttarakhand Assembly: Congress stages walkout over price hike issue
DEHRADUN: Opposition Congress MLAs cornered the government on the second day of the Uttarakhand legislative assembly on the issue of price hike, especially of diesel and petrol
DEHRADUN: Opposition Congress MLAs cornered the government on the second day of the Uttarakhand legislative assembly on the issue of price hike, especially of diesel and petrol.
Many Congress legislators moved adjournment motions, demanding a debate in the House on the issue of inflation, arguing that it was affecting the people across the state and as such needed to be discussed in detail.
Not satisfied with the response of the government, they staged a walkout from the House in the evening. They left the house raising slogans against price hike and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s stand on the issue.
Pritam Singh, Congress MLA and former leader of Opposition said that with the double engine government, people hoped the situation would improve and there will be some relief. “But for the last eight days, almost every day there has been increase in the prices of petrol and diesel. Petrol prices have crossed a century and diesel prices are in 90s”, he said.
Yashpal Arya, Congress MLA from Bazpur said people are getting affected due to inflation as they are struggling to make both ends meet.
Anupama Rawat, Congress MLA from Haridwar Rural and daughter of Harish Rawat said prices of LPG cylinders are high and hurting the budgets of families. She also raised the issue of power cuts, adding power cuts were affecting the studies of class 10 and class 12 students who are appearing for board examinations these days.
Harish Dhami, Congress MLA from Dharchula Pithoragarh raised the issue of rehabilitation of the people from disaster-prone areas to safer areas in his district. He also said that many roads and bridges that have been damaged by disasters need to be built to ensure proper connectivity in remote areas.
Responding to the issues raised by Congress legislators, Rekha Arya, cabinet minister for food supplies and consumer affairs listed out various government schemes and initiatives like the incentivised ration supplies under which the state government was providing succour to the people.
She said inflation was under control in the state and the state government had been taking care of the food security in the state. She also pointed out that price of diesel and petrol was comparatively low in Uttarakhand when compared to states like Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
Earlier in the day, MLAs from the ruling side and opposition paid their tributes to the departed legislators and ex-legislators-- eight-time MLA from Dehradun Harbans Kapoor who died in December last year and Gopal Dutt Ojha, ex-MLA from Pithoragarh, who died in January this year.
Before the House started, many Congress MLAs including Anupama Rawat staged a protest in the assembly premises against the alleged targeting of Congress workers in Haridwar Rural after the BJP lost the seat. On Tuesday, Harish Rawat had also staged a symbolic one-hour silent protest in Haridwar to highlight the anti-encroachment drive in rural Haridwar’s Laldhang area where Congress supporters’ houses were allegedly demolished on Monday.
