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Members protest absence of officials in House

PUDUCHERRY: Speaker R. Radhakrishnan on Monday adjourned the Assembly for nearly 30 minutes as members cutting across partylines protested against the absence of Secretaries of various departments during a debate on various demands.

The Assembly resumed after the Secretaries concerned apologised and assured that they would not repeat the “mistake.”

The issue came up when N. Kalainathan (CPI) was speaking during the debate on grants for nine demands including Agriculture, Industries, Electricity, Labour and Employment, Medical and Statistics. Seeking an intervention, S. P Siva Kumar (DMK) brought to the notice of the Chair that none of the Secretaries was present in the House when important issues were discussed.

The Speaker directed Assembly Secretary M. Sivaprakasam to ascertain if the Secretaries were present in the Assembly. On finding out that the Secretaries were not in the Assembly complex, he adjourned House at around 12.30 p.m.

After coming to know of the Speaker’s decision, the Secretaries turned up at his chamber and tendered an apology following which the proceedings of the House resumed.

Earlier, the DMK members protested the absence of Health Minister E. Valsaraj when issues pertaining to his department were taken up for discussion. Mr. Sivakumar said the Minister had not attended the session on most of the days.

This drew immediate protest from the Treasury Benches with Welfare Minister M. Kandasamy coming to the defence of the Health Minister. The Speaker said Mr. Valsaraj had sought prior permission from him.

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