GUWAHATI, Feb 1 � Opposition members created an uproar inside the State Assembly also in the second half of the day�s session today. As soon as the House reassembled and the Speaker asked the members to initiate discussion on the Governor�s address, Leader of Opposition Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said that the Opposition was for a discussion on the large-scale financial irregularities taking place in the State under the present regime.
But at the instance of the Speaker, Congress� Binanda Saikia moved the motion of thanks on the Governor�s address. This paved the way for the commotion in the Opposition Bench and soon all of the Opposition members trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans denouncing the Government.
However, despite their constant obstruction, the Treasury Bench stuck to the list of business and went on laying the documents like the Assam Gazette�s extraordinary issues, Appropriation Accounts and Financial Accounts for the 2009-10 fiscal, Annual Report and Accounts of Assam Electricity Grid, 39th Annual Report of the Assam Petrochemicals Ltd for 2009-10.
Bills like The Assam Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2011, The Assam Entry Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2011, The Assam Science and Technology University (Amendment) Bill, 2011, The Kumar Bhaskar Varma Sanskrit and Ancient Studies University Bill, 2011, among others, were also laid in the House by the Treasury Bench ignoring the noisy agitation of the Opposition members.
But the Chief Minister was forced to cut short his speech on the Vote on Account placed for the period between April 1 and July 31, 2011 by the vociferous Opposition members.
The Opposition members demanded resignation of the Tarun Gogoi-led Government for its �involvement� in multiple scams involving an astronomical amount of around Rs 47,000 crore. They also shouted slogans demanding steps to arrest rise in the prices of essential items and scrapping of all the proposals for mega dam hydel projects in the NE region.
The Opposition members also decried the �biased� role of the Speaker.
Later, speaking to newspersons, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Chandra Mohan Patowary alleged that the Governor and the Government have ignored the Opposition, which has a major role to play in democracy.
The Governor�s address failed to spell out any step against the large-scale scams amounting to around Rs 47, 000 crore as has been reported in a local daily today. The Governor also kept mum on the issue of the scams involving the development fund of NC Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) despite his being the custodian of the Autonomous Council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Above facts are proofs of the Governor�s encouraging corruption in the Government.
The State Government on December 17 last stated that it would hand over all the 30 departments of the NCHAC to the CBI as demanded by the Opposition. But on December 27, the State Government handed over only some projects of the Autonomous Council to the Central investigating agency. Not a single department was handed over to the investigating agency, said the AGP president.
He also demanded that those Ministers who are accused of involvement in the scams should be dropped immediately so as to ensure an impartial investigation into the alleged scams.
