Haridwar rape & murder issue causes furore
Govt sets up a team headed by DIG
The winter session of Uttarakhand assembly was adjourned sine die by the speaker Premchand Agarwal on Thursday afternoon. The house passed the supplementary budget and seven bills during the session. In the proceedings of the day the Congress members emphatically raised the issue of heinous rape and murder of a nine year old girl in Haridwar. The Congress sought work adjournment motion under rule 310 on the issue but it was taken under rule 58 by the speaker. Raising the issue the leader of opposition Indira Hridayesh said that due to the gross negligence one of the culprits of the crime has gone missing. She said that the law and order condition in the state has worsened and the girls are not safe. The Congress members said that the culprit is said to be an influential property dealer and has political patronage. The parliamentary affairs minister Madan Kaushik said that the culprits would not be spared and informed that a special team headed by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Garhwal has been constituted to arrest the absconding culprit. The team would also monitor the prosecution process in the case. He assured that the culprit would soon get arrested and that the case would be taken up in the fast track court so that the culprits would get harshest punishment. Kaushik also declared that the bounty on the arrest of the culprit has been increased from Rs 20000 to Rs 1 lakh.
In another discussion under rule 58, the Chakrata MLA and PCC president Pritam Singh said that on one hand the tourism minister is inviting people to visit the state on Christmas and on other the state government has imposed a ban on New Year celebrations. He said that the tourism industry which was recovering from the Coronavirus pandemic has been hit hard by this decision. In his reply Madan Kaushik said that the tourism activity will continue as usual but the bar would not be allowed to be open on Christmas and New Year eve. The house also discussed the issue of the compassionate appointments in the sugar mills and price rise. Earlier in the day the Congress members marched to the assembly carrying gas cylinders in an attempt to highlight the increasing prices of cooking gas and other items. The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Pritam Singh said that the general public is reeling under the price rise but the government is paying no attention to the plight of the public.
Friday, 25 December 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
