DEHRA DUN: The Uttaranchal Vidhan Sabha witnessed noisy scenes for the second day on Thursday as Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs staged a dharna in the well of the House seeking justice for the "real" Uttarakhand activists who had been forgotten after the State was formed.

The people close to those in power were being given jobs under the Uttarakhand activists' quota while the crusaders were being neglected, said Kashi Singh Airi of the UKD and Narayanpal and Nizamuddin of the BSP. The BSP members also raised slogans seeking a better deal for the farmers who had suffered huge losses due to the drought.

The Speaker, Yashpal Arya, adjourned the House for an hour.

The sloganeering resumed when the House reassembled at noon and the agitated members came back to their seats only after the Speaker assured them of allowing a debate on the issue on Friday. The House was adjourned again till 1-30 p.m. as the BSP members raised slogans demanding a discussion on the excise policy leakage issue that had rocked the House on Wednesday.

Former Speaker and Bharatiya Janata Party member Prakash Pant said "the House must discuss the issue as 23,206 applicants had filed their bids for liquor shops as per the rates prescribed in the excise policy even before it was announced".

The atmosphere calmed down after Excise and Tourism Minister T.P.S. Rawat announced that he had ordered a probe into the matter and the guilty would be punished.

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