Rajmeet singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 28
With 55 MLAs in the 117-member House not allowed to attend the session due to injunctions in light of Covid-19, a truncated session of the State Assembly saw uproar in the House with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Lok Insaaf Party. (LIP) The MLAs face Social Welfare Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot for his alleged complicity in protecting those involved in the Rs 55.71 crore SC post-matrix scholarship scam.
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SAD: one-hour black day for democracy
- The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) called the one-hour Vidhan Sabha session a black day for democracy, even as it attacked Captain CM Amarinder Singh for running away from hot topics.
- SAD Senior Leader Bikram Singh Majithia said they followed the instructions of the president, who had asked those who came into contact with infected community members not to attend the Assembly.
- But Captain Amarinder lied in the Vidhan Sabha, saying the SAD was absent from the session: “It concealed the fact that it was recorded that opposition lawmakers had been asked not to attend.”
In the line of fire of the Opposition banks, the minister found no support in the Treasury banks. The Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, was also present in the Chamber as charges were fired against his minister. However, the minister’s verbal counterattack was lost in the din of slogans raised by the AAP MLAs.
In showing the recently released government report on scholarship fund disbursement scam, LIP MLA Simarjit Bains praised the bureaucrat who exposed the minister and his deputy director Parminder Gill as he read excerpts from the report while seeking the removal of the minister. In organizing a dharna at the House Well, Bains demanded an investigation from the CBI into the scam involving central funds. He said that if the government did not act, it would move the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
It was noted that the minister had reinstated Deputy Director Parminder Gill, who was suspended in connection with the scam.
AAP MLA teachers Baldev Singh and Kultar Singh Sandhwan also demanded the removal of the minister, adding that the “blundering of the scholarship scheme was a serious blemish on the congressional government.” AAP MLA Aman Arora raised the issue of illegal mining and the liquor mafia. Meanwhile, due to the pandemic, there was no time for questions, drawing attention and zero hour.
Tributes paid to martyrs, warriors
- The Assembly paid tribute to the soldiers killed in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, the Covid warriors and Olympian Balbir Singh Senior. The twelfth session of Punjab’s fifteenth assembly began at 11am with strict protocols due to the pandemic.
- Captain CM Amarinder Singh led the Assembly paying tribute to 28 eminent personalities, including freedom fighters, who have passed away since the last session of the House.
- At the request of Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, front-line warriors were also added to the list, sacrificing their lives in the fight against the pandemic.
