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U.P. House passes resolution against Bundelkhand authority

— Photo: PTI

DIN OVER DROUGHT: Opposition MLAs display banners at the Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow on Monday, highlighting the drought situation in the State.

LUCKNOW: The Mayawati government on Monday got a resolution through the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, opposing the Centre’s move to create a Bundelkhand Development Authority, terming it an infringement of the State’s authority.

As pandemonium prevailed in the House over the drought situation, the resolution was passed by voice vote.

The Opposition, especially the Congress, was caught unawares, as O.P. Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party presented the resolution. He said the creation of a separate authority for Bundelkhand amounted to imposition of President’s rule through the back door.

Seconding the resolution, Brijesh Mishra ‘Saurabh’ of the ruling party said the State government had created the Bundelkhand Special Area Development Authority in 2008. He argued this would amount to encroachment by the Centre, and there was no need for such a body.

The Centre did not concede the State’s demand for a Rs. 80,000-crore package, he said.

Before the ruling party sprang a surprise by passing the resolution, the drought situation dominated the proceedings. The Opposition demanded that the entire State be declared drought-hit. It criticised the government’s decision to declare select districts drought-affected and expressed doubts over relief and rehabilitation measures for farmers.

Speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar rejected the motion seeking a debate on the issue.

Pandemonium prevailed as the House assembled for question hour, with members of the Samajwadi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal demanding a discussion on the subject. While the SP and Congress members entered the well, BJP MLAs stood on their seats, demanding that the whole State be declared drought-hit, and 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply. As the din did not die down, the Speaker adjourned the House till 12.20 p.m.

Raising the issue after Finance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Lalji Verma tabled the Supplementary Grants of Rs. 7,559.52 crore for 2009-10 and the grants of additional expenditure from 1990-91 to 2004-05, Ambika Chaudhary of the SP said the State headed for a famine, pointing to the shortage of water, power and fodder.

Hukum Singh of the BJP was critical of the steps taken by the government and alleged that these were mere announcements. Besides declaring the whole State drought-hit, Mr. Singh demanded that grain be supplied free of cost to small and marginal farmers and the government bear the cost of diesel supplied to them.

Pramod Tiwari of the Congress pointed to the absence of drought-relief measures in the Supplementary Grants. Money was available for building memorials and buildings, but not for filling the empty stomachs of impoverished farmers, he said.

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