LUCKNOW: On what turned out to be a day of walkouts in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party boycotted the proceedings on different issues on Thursday.

While the BSP and the BJP walked out in protest against not being given sufficient time to speak by the Speaker, Mata Prasad Pandey, the Congress boycotted the House as it was not satisfied with the Government's reply on Japanese Encephalitis.

The JE issue was raised by Jagdambika Pal of the Congress who wanted to know how many people had died from January to August 2006, and what measures had been taken by the Government to control the outbreak.

In his reply, Revenue Minister Ambika Chaudhary said that of the 315 casualties so far this year, 60 had died of viral encephalitis and 10 of JE. He said as compared to last year when 34 districts had been affected, the number had come down to 16 this year. Mr. Chaudhary said 99.97 per cent of the Chinese vaccine had been administered to around 60 lakh people in the seven worst affected districts. He said Azamgarh and Mirzapur divisions would be taken up for vaccination in the second phase.

Not satisfied with the reply, the Congress staged a walkout. The CLP leader, Pramod Tewari, said there was shortage of medicines and people were still dying of encephalitis.

The BSP boycotted the proceedings when the Speaker disallowed their notice that time should be allotted in accordance with the strength of the party in the House. The notice was moved by Sukhdev Rajbhar.

The walkout by the BJP was also in protest against the Chair not giving sufficient time. This followed after the Leader of the Opposition, Lalji Tandon, raised the issue of farmers' suicide during Zero Hour. Mr. Tandon said that around 50 farmers had committed suicide in Bundelkhand, Rohilkhand and Purvanchal regions due to poverty and mounting interest on farm loans. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammed Azam Khan decribed the information as baseless and misleading.

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