Opposition corners ministers on asset distribution, pensions in the house

Thursday, 16 June 2022 | PNS | Dehradun

The members of the opposition Congress party cornered the ministers on the second day of the budget session of the Assembly on Wednesday. The Parliamentary Affairs and State Reorganisation minister Prem Chand Agarwal and the Social Welfare minister Chandan Ram Das were at the receiving end of the onslaught of the opposition members. In the question hour the Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh demanded the status of the distribution of assets between Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. In response to the question the Parliamentary Affairs minister Agarwal informed the house that the chief minister level talks between UP and Uttarakhand were held in 2017 and on November 18, 2021 in Lucknow. He said that 14 out of 70 issues were awaiting settlement between the two States and after the recent talks eight issues were settled and only six are now pending. Expressing displeasure at the answer Singh said that he had asked specific information as to how many assets were distributed between the two States when Uttarakhand was created in the year 2000 and which are the issues that are still pending. He said that the minister is giving superfluous information in response to the pin-pointed questions. Intervening in the discussion, the leader of opposition Yashpal Arya asked about the status of the land of Irrigation department of Uttarakhand and Sharda Sagar dam.

The Haridwar Rural MLA Anupama Rawat and Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh cornered the Social Welfare minister Chandan Ram Das on the old age pension data. In her question Rawat sought to know the number of such husbands and wives who were declined old age pension due to non- fulfilment of the eligibility conditions. The minister  told the house that earlier there were a  total of 2,72,671 beneficiaries of old age pension in the State and after the State government’s decision to give pension to both husband and wife in a family 35,447 new beneficiaries were added to the list. Singh pointed out that in the written response of the minister it is clearly mentioned that a large number of the women have been deprived of the old age pension due to non-fulfilment of the eligibility conditions. He said that the Congress member has asked the number of such women. The minister however was not able to furnish this data.