PNS | DEHRADUN
The second day of the budget session of Vidhan Sabha started on tumultuous note on Wednesday with angry exchange of words between members of treasury and opposition benches on the issue of alleged misbehaviour and use of foul language by Congress MLA Madan Bisht during the address of governor lieutenant general (retd) Gurmit Singh on Tuesday. As soon as the proceedings of the day started, the BJP MLAs Renu Bisht and Asha Nautiyal raised the issue and demanded an apology from Bisht for using unparliamentary language during the Congress protest on Tuesday.
Rajpur MLA Khajan Dass and other MLAs of ruling party supported the women MLAs in condemning Congress MLA Bisht and seeking unconditional apology from him. The Congress MLAs however defended Bisht by claiming that Bisht had not used unparliamentary language and the opposition has every right to register a protest. The leader of opposition Yashpal Arya blamed Parliamentary Affairs minister Premchand Agarwal for the incident.
This infuriated the minister who said that use of foul language will not be tolerated in the house. The Speaker Ritu Khanduri tried to pacify the agitated members and at one point even asked the leader of house (chief minister) Pushkar Singh Dhami to ask the minister Agarwal to keep quiet. In her ruling, the Speaker said that the pandemonium during the address of governor was uncalled for and said that the members should behave in a dignified manner and use parliamentary language in the house. She referred the issue to the disciplinary committee of the house of consideration.
At the start of the question hour, the Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh demanded discussion on the issue of installation of Smart meters by the UPCL under rule 310. The speaker however denied the demand but allowed discussion on the issue under rule 58.
Later participating in the discussion on the issue, the LoP Arya said that the smart meters are being installed under pressure from the union government. He said the poor people are finding it difficult to pay their electricity bills in the States where such meters have already been installed. Arya said that the installation of pre-paid meters will benefit the power distribution companies. He added that by installation of the smart meters the government intends to provide benefits to some private companies.
The house led by CM Dhami, LoP Arya, ministers and senior members paid glowing tributes to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former MLA Chandrashekhar Bhattewala on the motion of condolences. Paying homage to Bhattewala the BSP MLA Mohammad Shahzad said that the former MLAs should be created with full state honours. The CM readily accepted the demand.
In other business of the day, the government tabled Uttarakhand special provision for urban bodies and authorities ( amendment) bill, Uttarakhand protection of interests of depositors ( repeal) bill, Uttarakhand State legislative assembly ( member emoluments and pension) amendment bill-2025 , Uttarakhand repealing bill 2025 and Uttarakhand urban and rural planning and development amendment bill 2025 in the house.
CDS pays courtesy visit to CM at Vidhan Sabha
DEHRADUN :The chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that his government is fully committed to providing opportunities for the youth to get engaged with the defence sector while talking to the Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan at Vidhan Sabha when the latter paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday.
Security issues and the upcoming programmes being organised by the Army in the State figured in the discussion between the CM and CDS. Notably, General Chauhan, hailing from Pauri district, is the second CDS who assumed charge in 2022.
