New Delhi   

Parliament adjourned over Delhi demolitions

Special Correspondent

Bharatiya Janata Party favours amnesty scheme to regularise unauthorised extensions of homes

NEW DELHI: The demolition drive here held up Parliamentary business on Thursday as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refused to allow both Houses to function till `The Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Bill, 2006,' which seeks to put a year-long moratorium on demolitions, was introduced.

As a result, both Houses adjourned without transacting any business on the understanding that the Government would introduce the Bill on Friday, and the Opposition would allow Parliament to function.

The Lok Sabha saw two quick adjournments within minutes of zero hour before Speaker Somnath Chatterjee called it a day. The Rajya Sabha, too, met with a similar fate as the Opposition trained its guns on the Government for failing to introduce the Bill despite Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy making a commitment on Wednesday.

As Mr. Reddy rose to explain in the Lok Sabha why the Bill was not being introduced, the Opposition drowned his voice in a chorus of protests, forcing the first adjournment.

When the House met again, the Minister said the Bill could not be introduced because its Hindi version was not ready.

Mr. Reddy also sought the Opposition's cooperation in getting the Bill passed without discussion.

The Opposition remained non-committal, insisting that it be introduced first. Mr. Chatterjee adjourned the House again till noon and thereafter for the day. On Wednesday itself, the BJP had decided to disrupt Parliament on the demolition issue.

At the parliamentary party meeting on Thursday before the House assembled, the decision was endorsed. Deputy Leader of the BJP in the Lok Sabha V.K. Malhotra, the lone non-Congress MP from Delhi, made it clear that till the Government brought in legislation to stop the demolitions, the BJP would not allow Parliament to function.

BJP leaders

Later, BJP leaders said the proposed Bill would not work as the courts would strike it down.

What was needed was an amnesty scheme to regularise unauthorised extensions of homes. The party clarified that it was not opposing the demolition of structures built on public land.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Leaders vie to take credit for Bill on sealing
Continue sealing drive: Supreme Court
GMR group woos AAI staff through their stomachs
DPCC and party legislators hail Sonia Gandhi's victory
Parliament adjourned over Delhi demolitions
Court restrains four lawyers from using pilfered data
A different kind of stag party
Bringing alive the grittier side of realm of magic
MCD continues pick and choose policy: BJP
MCD to appeal to court for allowing meat shops in residential areas
A film on ancient theatre form
Soz confident Mulayam will relent on water to Delhi
Medicos to protest today
Dyal Singh College teachers threaten to abstain from work
On the warpath
Jail Superintendents fined
Wheat import norms relaxed further
Arrested militant underwent training in Bangladesh
Around the City
Briefly
In the Capital Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu