Ruckus in Jharkhand Assembly for third day

The Jharkhand Assembly witnessed uproar for the third day on Friday as the opposition demanded the removal of the Chief Secretary and the DGP in connection with a fodder scam and an allegedly staged shootout, respectively.

When the House assembled at 11 a.m., the opposition members raised the issue of Chief secretary Rajbala Verma and Director General of Police D.K. Pandey, and also demanded that Additional DGP Anurag Gupta be removed for trying to influence the 2016 Rajya Sabha polls.

"If our voices are not heard in the House, where we will go with our questions," asked Leader of Opposition and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren.

"It is said that questions cannot be raised about those who are not members of the House... the poor people of the state are also not members of the House, but their issues are discussed."

Pradeep Yadav, a Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik legislator, talked about Additional DGP Gupta adopting corrupt practices to influence elections.

Intervening on the issue, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Anant Ojha said: "The opposition is not allowing the House to be run. The opposition is doing 'dabangai'."

The ruling party members then stood up in their seats and objected to the ruckus by the opposition.

Assembly Speaker Dinesh Oraon tried to pacify the opposition members and said: "The prevailing situation indicates that the Question Hour will not take place. Should we stop the Question Hour?".

Around 11.20 a.m., the Speaker adjourned the house till 12.15 p.m. But when the House reassembled the scene was similar.

Amid bedlam, the government tabled the third supplementary budget of Rs 1,738 crore. The House was then adjourned till 2 p.m.

Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma is accused of doing nothing to prevent fraudulent withdrawals from the Chaibasa treasury as the then Deputy Commissioner of West Singhbhum in the early 1990s. The fraudulent withdrawal, which had taken place in the Animal Husbandry Department, is popularly known as the fodder scam.

DGP D.K. Pandey found himself in the opposition crosshairs with regard to a shootout in Latehar district in 2015, in which innocent persons were killed on the pretext of a gun battle with Maoists.

--IANS

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