Tuesday, 20 February 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The budget session of the Vidhan Sabha will commence from February 26 in Dehradun. The State government will table the general budget of the State for the financial year 2024-25 during the session. The speaker Ritu Khanduri said that the session will start on February 26. The officiating secretary of the Vidhan Sabha, Hem Pant said that the secretariat has so far received 250 questions from the members for the session. The duration of the session will however be decided by the government and the business advisory committee of the house.
Meanwhile, politics is continuing over the decision of the State government to hold the budget session in Dehradun. It was expected that the session would be organised in the summer capital Gairsain. However, a section of MLAs created a pressure group and asked the government to organise the budget session in Dehradun. These MLA cited extreme cold in Gairsain as a reason for not holding the session there.
Taking a dig at the MLAs who cited cold weather conditions in Gairsain as the reason for not organising the session there, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat said that such legislators should leave Uttarakhand. He said that the genesis of the Uttarakhand is in the idea of a Himalayan State and the legislation for creation of the State had mentioned that Uttarakhand would be a Himalayan State. Rawat said that one will face snowfall, rain and cold weather conditions in a Himalayan State and the excuse given by some MLAs holds no ground. The former CM also criticised the State government for making excuses for not organising the session in Gairsain. He said that the government should reconsider its decision to organise the session in Dehradun instead of Gairsain. It is pertinent to mention here that during the chief ministerial tenure of Harish Rawat, a resolution was passed to the effect that every year the budget session of the Assembly will be held in Gairsain.
The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara has also criticised the decision of the State government to organise the upcoming budget session of the State Assembly in Dehradun and said that the decision exposes the anti-Gairsain mindset of the State government.
