GUWAHATI, March 5 - Congress MLAs Rupjyoti Kurmi and Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha were marshaled out during the Question Hour of the Assembly today following noisy scenes over supplementary questions on employment of youth under industry department and revival of the paper mills of Assam.
Both the MLAs, who were initially suspended for the day by Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami, were later allowed inside the House as the order was revoked following requests from State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary and Congress MLA Wazed Ali Choudhury.
Both Kurmi and Purkayastha raised objections to a reply by Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary during the Question Hour. The ruckus started as the Congress legislators objected to the minister�s claim regarding employment of 3,61,142 youths through start-ups, skill development, etc.
Replying to a question by AGP�s Pabindra Deka on closure of big and small industries of Assam between 2016 and 2019, and the overall industry scenario within the time-frame, the minister also stated that the government had given Rs 1,400 crore to Assam Petrochemicals Limited for producing methanol and formalin and Rs 22,000 crore for expansion of Numaligarh Refinery Limited from its current capacity of 3 million tons per annum to 9 million tons per annum.
Regarding Nagaon and Cachar paper mills, he said some of the recent developments give a ray of hope towards revival of the paper mills.
The minister also informed the House about the government�s plan to bring gas from Paradip, Odisha.
As the Speaker allowed supplementary questions from different parties, the Congress legislators rose from their seats arguing over the paper mill and employment figures claimed by the government.
The House witnessed heated exchange of words from both ends, with the Speaker asking the MLAs to sit down. Finally, the marshals were called in to evict the MLAs from House.
