Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Mar 26: The Government today faced an embarrassing situation in the State Assembly when Minister of Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir rose to reply the calling Attention Motion of Engineer Abdul Rashid on behalf of Minister of R&B Abdul Majid Wani.
While Minister was reading a written reply to Call Attention Motion in the House, Mr Rashid stood up and said that it is not reply to his Call Attention Motion. “He is talking Bhagdad and I want to know about Srinagar”, the member added.
This perplexed the Minister for a while as he did not have the written reply of Call Attention Motion of the Member and papers provided him were a reply to calling Attention Motion of Bharat Bushan, which too was listed in today’s business but was not taken up as the member was not present in the House. But the Assembly reporters later provided the real reply to Minister which he read.
However when Speaker Mubarak Gul asked the member to listen to the reply, he retorted “what reply will I hear about Laila-Majnu”, the epic love story. The Minister is reading a wrong statement.
Rashid also said that concerned Minister is not in the House who is supposed to reply the Calling Attention Motion as question pertained to his Ministry.
The MLA through his call attention wanted to turn the attention of Government towards dilapidated Handwara -Nowgam road which is being constructed by Beacon Department.
The members through his supplementary wanted to further know what measures the Government has taken for construction of road which is in dilapidated condition.
He said out of Rs 21 crore which was to be paid as compensation Rs14 crore were given but seven are still to pay. He further wanted to know has the Department accepted tenders and payment of compensation be speeded up.
Later, the Minister said that it is not the question which Minister is replying to the Calling Attention Motion. “It is the collective responsibility of the Government”. On the payment of compensation, he said, the issue will go to concerned Deputy Commissioner and he will expedite the process.
As all the Ministers who were supposed to reply the calling attention motions pertaining to their ministries were not present in the House, Minister of Agriculture earlier replied another Calling Attention Motion of Harshdev Singh regarding non issuance of allotment orders of works relating to PMGSY schemes of stage II of PMGSY Sub Division Majalta in Ramnagar constituency on behalf of R&B Minister.
While Minister of Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather replied the Calling Attention Motion of Mohammed Yasin Shah on behalf of CAPD and Transport Minister, Ch Mohammed Ramzan regarding change of supply of ration from rural areas to the locals of Khonomah, Zewan and Balhama falling within Srinagar City.
He also replied to another calling Attention Motion of Aijaz Ahmed Jan on behalf of Chief Minister Incharge Power Ministry regarding non availability of electricity to the people of Poonch. Though Minister of Forests Mian Altaf was not in the House, MoS Forests Dr Manohar Lal replied the calling attention Motion of Mohammed Sharief Niaz regarding situation that has arisen due to non payment of relief to some persons / shepherds whose sheep were killed by a tiger in Dranga Bhaderwah.
The absence of the ministers during the reply to calling attention motion indicated their non-seriousness towards the matters of public importance, an MLA said outside. And when Engineer Rashid raised this issue during the wrong reply to his Calling Attention Motion by Minister of Agriculture he really put Government in an embarrassing situation.
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