Shimla, Feb 22 (UNI) The Opposition parties on Tuesday showed their concern over confining the Himachal Pradesh Assembly budget session to 16 sittings, alleging that it would not be in larger public interest as so far 20 to 23 sittings being held in each budget session. Members belonging to Congress and CPM parties raised the issue of confining the budget session of state Assembly to 16 days in the all-party meeting held here at Vidhan Sabha. Charging the ruling BJP to avoid opposition’s queries on various issues concerning the state Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri said it has shortened the duration of the budget session which was against the set norms to avoid tough questions in election year. He also raised questions as to how the government would complete the set norm of 35 sittings of the state Assembly in a year. “Various issues pertaining to government employees and outsource workers have remained unresolved in the four years rule of the present government. In fact, the state government has left various financial liabilities as pay commission benefits for last year. Besides this, there is the issue of the old pension scheme for which the government employees are raising concern,” he stated. Mr Agnihotri further stated that outsource recruitments were only being done in two assembly constituencies and it seems that the BJP was trying to adjust its workers by backdoor entry. He also raised the issue of hooch tragedy in which seven persons were killed and the explosion in an illegal firecracker factory in Haroli area of Una district. “What is the BJP government doing on these lapses. Was there no input on the operation of illegal firecracker factory or illegal liquor making units in the state from the Excise or Police department,” he questioned. He alleged that illegal mining was going on in the state and the government had failed to take any action against such people. CPM member Rakesh Singha also raised the issue of shorter duration of Assembly session and said the opposition members should be given more time to voice their concerns on various issues. “The Assembly is meant to regulate laws in the state. There is the need to regulate fees in schools and the functioning of the private universities in the state but the state government has failed to take any concrete action on these issues. Besides, there are several issues pertaining to government employees, Anganwari workers, outsource employees and people of the state for which more time was needed,” he said. He added that he had raised the issue with Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Bhardwaj who had assured to talk to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on the issue. Vidhan Sabha speaker Vipin Singh Parmar said that due to Covid pandemic budget session was confined to 16 sittings and houses would also convene on Saturdays to keep the session to short span.
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