Replies to questions not to the point, says Oppn

Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha today with members from opposition parties protesting that replies to their questions were not to the point.

Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha on Friday with members from opposition parties protesting that replies to their questions were not to the point.

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"On many occasions we see that written replies given by ministers are not in tune with the question asked," Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP) complained during Question Hour.

Rudy said his question related to guarding of unmanned railway crossings, but the written reply did not match the poser.

To this, Chairman Hamid Ansari said, "The Chair has noted the point."

Minister of State for Railways E Ahammed said the member has the right to ask questions and challenge him.

However, members belonging to BJP, SP and BSP expressed strong displeasure over the minister's response leading to noisy scenes.

Ahammed said there was a proposal to man 4,000 unmanned crossings by 2010-11.

Earlier, as soon as the House met for the day, Ansari said, "It has been noted that members while asking supplementaries, tend to make statements instead of directly
asking questions and deviate from the original question. They should stick to the (main) question."

To this, Naresh Agarwal (BSP) said it would limit the rights of the members.

"Be liberal with us. Instead you should be tough with the ministers," Agarwal said.

Senior Congress member Karan Singh said sometimes new facts came to light from the ministers' replies. Therefore, if members were asked to stick to their main question, then it could cut out valuable information, he added.