State Assembly Speaker adjourns house 13 times
Author: Mamta Sen Date: 04 Apr 2008
As only 29 members out of 288 were present
When Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam declares that the Bihar Assembly is better than Maharashtra’s, it is time to do a little soul-searching.Consider this: In this session, that began on March 10, except for the Rajya Sabha and Council elections, not more than 50 percent MLAs were present on any day.The Speaker had to adjourn the House 13 times as not even 29 members from the 288 were present. Unprecedented, specially in a Budget session, the most important of the three every year.In the last five years, the legislative Houses have not met for even 50 days when directives state that the sessions must have at least 100 working days.As if this was not enough, those present at the House did not engage in a quality debate and six legislators were suspended after they allegedly threw books at legislative officers and damaged furniture. All this, at the cost of public money.Single point agenda: RaneOver Rs 58 crore was earmarked for this year’s Budget session, with each hour at the Vidhan Bhavan costing the public exchequer over Rs 4 lakh. “Each question asked at the Vidhan Bhavan costs us Rs 65000,” said Anil Mhatre, co-director of Samarthan, an NGO that’s working on state legislative issues.BackseatMhatre said that the chaos is more over trivial issues. “Important questions revolving around betterment of crores of people in the state have taken a backseat,” he says. This session alone there have been adjournments almost every day as the MLAs brought the House down over some issue. Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has been the most prominent target for the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party Opposition, who have gone after the rebel Sena leader who joined the Congress in 2005. The House was adjourned thrice this week alone after Opposition members kept pressing for inquiries into decisions taken by Rane.No business“They have no other business. I’m their single point agenda,” said Rane. It is in the interest of the members to attend the session as they receive Rs 500 per day for their presence. However, the MLAs prefer to stay out as legislators from both sides often prefer to get their work done outside the House, by meeting the minister and sanctioning development projects in their constituency.The ongoing session is scheduled to be over by April 25. However, there are indications that it will not go on beyond April 11.
Every MLA gets...
Daily allowance: Rs 500 per day, per session
Salary: Rs 2,000 pm
Vehicle allowance: Rs 25,000 pm
Telephone: Rs 8,000 pm
Computer facilities: Laptop/desktop with printer
Personal assistant: Rs 7,000 pm remuneration
Vehicle interest: 8 % of loan amount reimbursed on any new car upto Rs 10 lakh
Local fund development fund: Rs one crore per year
Rail travel: Free rail travel with one companion by 1st class or A/c 2 -tier class within the state and upto 5,000 km outside state.
Road travel: Unlimited free travel with one companion on all types of buses of state road transport.
Voices
Nawab Malik (NCP)
The personal rivalry between the Sena and Rane is disturbing the proceedings of the House. Instead of conducting a healthy debate, that aims to serve crores in the state, the opposition is making use of this platform to settle personal scores.
P U Mehta (Congress)
The opposition has been finding some excuse or the other to delay the workings of the House. Publicity is the main agenda of MLAs today and unfortunately they are achieving this through their behaviour instead of showing any concrete work.
Neelam Gore (Shiv Sena)
The opinion of members in Congress is hardly taken into account as the party is limping on the Central leadership, while the NCP has nothing to its credit. All this eventually leads to unrest and gets reflected in the Assembly sessions.
Mangal Lodha (BJP)
The Assembly is a very important system of democracy. The ruling party doesn’t not have any sensitivity towards the issues raised by us. We are ready to cooperate, but the ruling government should also decide what kind reputation they want.
Assembly Session
Year: 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Days worked: 46 33 41 29 44 47
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