Saturday, 18 June 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The four-day budget session of the fifth Vidhan Sabha was adjourned sine die on Friday. The Assembly speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan thanked all members of the opposition and treasury benches for their cooperation. She said that members of both the parties held serious discussions on various important issues in the interests of the State and citizens. The house functioned for a total of 22 hours and 43 minutes during the four-day budget session. A total of 573 questions were received in the session. These included 14 short notice questions of which four were answered, 190 starred questions of which 61 were answered and 339 unstarred questions out of which 165 were answered. A total of 17 questions were rejected while three were kept under consideration.
Earlier in the day during the proceedings of the house, the opposition members raised various issues including power cuts being experienced in different parts of the State. The deputy leader of opposition, Bhuwan Kapdi opined that the State is undergoing a major electricity crisis with unannounced power cuts in various areas. With some hydro power projects pending, the government is purchasing expensive electricity but is not ready to allocate the necessary funds for the hydro power projects, he alleged. Haldwani MLA Sumit Hridayesh said that the State government should facilitate development of solar power parks on barren lands. The Jhabreda MLA Virendra Kumar said that the electricity shortage is a result of the government’s short sightedness. He said that there is a major shortage of staff in the power department.
Responding to the queries and statements by opposition members, the Parliamentary Affairs minister Prem Chand Agrawal said that the electricity production has been affected by shortage of coal and gas in the international market. The State has also been affected by this situation. The minister further said that there was a heavy demand for electricity after the Covid-19 pandemic while the Russia-Ukraine conflict resulted in a shortage of gas. He said that about seven million unit of electricity is not being produced. To meet the heavy demand for electricity in the month of April, the State government succeeded in its efforts to source electricity from Meghalaya, Assam and Andhra Pradesh, said the minister.
