SHIMLA (HimbuMail service and Agencies): Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri today presented water Cess Bill 2023 in the Vidhan Sabha soon after the opposition BJP MLA staged walkout amid din in the House over the closing down of institutions and the stalling of MLA local area development.
Later on, after the walkout Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu termed the BJP’s walkout wrong and unwarranted stating that the government has only stalled the MLA Local area fund, but has not scrapped it.
Presenting the water cess Bill, Agnihotri said they expect an additional income of Rs 4000 Crore from the water cess on power projects every year. Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir are charging the water cess.
The BJP MLAs led by Leader of the opposition Jai Ram Thakur created ruckus in the House while the treasury benches led by CM and Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri took on BJP MLAs and blamed them for the current financial mess which was created during their last tenure.
As a matter of fact, CM would present his first “state budget on March 17, but the opposition BJP has adopted a aggressive stand on issue of closing down of institutions, which were opened by the Jai Ram Thakur government in a jiffy to harvest poll benefits.
Jai Ram Thakur, Vipin Parmar and Randhir Sharma sought debate on the issue of closing down of the institutions and stalling of the MLA funds.
But as soon as Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri tried to give his reply on these issues, BJP legislators staged walkout from Vidhan Sabha in protest and shouted slogans as Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania rejected demand of the BJP MLAs.
The BJP MLAS sought to know as to why the MLA funds were stalled. BJP government had increased the funds to Rs 2 Crore.
In the din Sukhu said that if all the institutions were to be opened it would involve an expenditure of Rs 90,000 Crore, which is not possible considering that Himachal is in a financial crisis. Such demand as raised by the BJP was wrong as it was raised in Emergency.
Chief minister said that the previous BJP government had availed loans that has pushed the state into a financial crisis.
Industrial Minister Mr Harshvardhan Singh Chauhan said the state is reeling under debt of Rs Rs75000 crore.
Clearing the air Chief minister said the government the government has stalled to MLA local area fund but has not scrapped it.
Himachal is passing through a peculiar financial crisis, but BJP MLAs sitting on the opposition benches are responsible for the crisis.
He said that BJP government implemented the 6th pay commission but neither pension nor government employees were given the arrears.
Jayaram Thakur said figure being presented by the government was wrong.
After the BJP staged walkout, the Chief Minister told media persons that the opposition role in the House was negative.
He said 920 institutions de-notified or closed would be opened wherever these are necessary.
He said that the council of Minister is working around the clock to solve this issue.
In the morning CM arrived in his private alto car for the Vidhan Sabha session saying that we should not forget our past even if one assumes any high office and it becomes a source of inspiration for people.
