Bains brothers, Pargat accuse Speaker of bias
Tuesday, 13/09/2016
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/bains-brothers-pargat-accuse-speaker-of-bias/294491.html
Chandigarh : Ruckus marred the Question Hour today as the Bains brothers – Independent MLAs Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains — and the Congress took turns to hold the House to “ransom”. They also raised anti-Speaker and anti-government slogans.
At the beginning of the session, the Bains brothers questioned the Speaker why the House did not accept their Bill seeking “pending arrears worth nearly Rs 15,34,400 crore” from the Rajasthan government for using the state waters for over five decades.
The brothers accompanied by their newly-launched outfit Awaaz-e-Punjab’s founder member Pargat Singh stepped into the well and squatted there. Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal told them: “I have rejected it (the Bill) and it cannot be tabled according to the Assembly rules.”
The MLA brothers accused Atwal of being “sarkari Speaker” and showed a newspaper clip alleging the Speaker’s biased conduct.
The Congress then took up the issue of mid-day meal workers being paid only Rs 33 per day, the lowest in the country. The issue was in fact raised by Chatin Singh Samoan, an Akali MLA, who asked whether the government had any plans to increase the wages.
The Congress leaders stormed the well of the House twice. Tarlochan Singh, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Kuljit Nagra led the Congress brigade.
Not satisfied with Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani’s answer that the government was spending Rs 43 crore to upgrade facilities in government hospitals, Congress MLA Sundar Sham Arora said a survey showed that most hospitals did not have doctors, pharmacists and technicians.
Former CLP leader Sunil Jakhar pointed out that the government had given nothing to the farmers out of Rs 717 crore that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had sought from the Centre for damage to crops. Ferozepur MLA Parmider Pinki then pointed out that the areas that faced crop failure due to rain had not been uniformly compensated.
Pargat Singh chose to occupy a chair along with the Bains brothers and an objection in this regard was raised by Daljit Singh Cheema.
