Govt Flayed For Hasty Decision On Farakka

Congress members in the Lok Sabha yesterday grilled the government on the ground that adequate safeguards had not been taken by India before signing the Indo-Bangladesh treaty on sharing of Ganga waters. Congress chief whip Sontosh Mohan Dev and former Union minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said the low flow of water in Ganga at Farakka had jeopardised the interests of Bihar, UP and other states.

The minister for water resources, Janeshwar Mishra, said noting the low flow arrival of less than 50,000 cusecs at Farakka on March 22, India had immediately initiated action for holding discussions with Bangladesh on adjustments to be made in the water sharing arrangements.

He said however, no decision could be taken. Action is now being taken to establish a procedure to tackle such situations.

Border Firing: Defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav denied that there had been any delay by the Indian armed forces in retaliating the unprovoked firing by Pakistani troops in Kargil sector in Jammu and Kashmir.

Responding to supplementaries during question hour, he said the armed forces had given a befitting reply to the Pak firing while ensuring that the civilian population across the line of control was not harmed in any manner. Yadav said Pakistan had been resorting to such tactics to gain international attention and keep the pot boiling in J and K.

Navodaya Vidyalaya: Minister for human resource development S R Bommai informed the Lok Sabha that all the districts in the country would be covered within two to three years under the Navodaya Vidyalaya scheme. The minister said when the scheme was launched there were only 444 districts in the country. Now the number has gone up to 532. He said all districts would be covered within two to three years time.

Rajya Sabha

Jute bag: The government informed the Rajya Sabha that a final decision was yet to be taken on the withdrawal of jute bags reservation order in the case of cement industry. Industry minister Murosali Maran said during question hour that a number of representations have been received from synthetic bag manufacturers and the cement industry for withdrawal of the order.

MPs scheme: The government has so far released an aggregated amount of Rs 2,349.80 crore under the member of parliament local area development scheme, the minister of state for planning and programme implementation, Y K Alagh, told the Rajya Sabha. Of this, an amount of Rs 1,571.75 crore has been utilised till March this year, the minister said.in a written reply.

SSIs: Industry minister Murasoli Maran assured the Rajya Sabha that the interests of the small scale industry sector will not be sacrificed for promoting large industries. No government can allow small scale industries to be gobbled up by the big industries, Maran told members whil responding to supplementaries during the question hour session.