Raj govt working to bring legislation on 'right to health': Guv

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra on Friday said the government is working to bring a legislation on "right to health" to provide healthcare facilities to people of the state.

Delivering his address on the first day of the Budget session, which was later boycotted by the opposition BJP and RLP MLAs, Mishra said the state government has launched 'Nirogi Rajasthan' campaign on December 18 last year and was making constant efforts to provide healthcare facilities to the people.

He said the government was working on "right to health" legislation to make it mandatory to provide healthcare facilities to the people.

Mishra said the state government has so far allocated a budget of Rs 47.80 crore as agriculture grant to farmers in six districts -- Jalore, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner, Pali and Jodhpur -- where locust attack has damaged crops.

He said the government took prompt action and got the 'girdawari' (assessment report) prepared in the affected areas.

The governor said Rajasthan became the first state in the country to make the arrangement of FIR registration at SP offices in case the FIR is not registered at police stations.

Due to this historic decision, the number of FIRs will increase, he said.

"It is the duty of the government which works for public welfare to ensure that everyone is heard and gets justice," he said.

Rajasthan was the first state to pass a bill to curb incidents of honour killing and second state where a bill against mob lynching was passed, he said.

It was expected that the government of India will cooperate in implementing them.

Mishra said Rajasthan is the first state to bring an ordinance to exempt MSMEs for three years from getting approval and clearances to start operations. Certificates to 2,811 business units have been provided under this till December 31, 2019, he said.

The governor highlighted other achievements of the government during his speech, which was interrupted by the leader of opposition Gulabchand Kataria.

As soon as the governor began the address, Kataria raised objection over the manner in which the session was hurriedly called and said the rules and procedures were not followed.

"A prior notice has to be issued before the session is called but this was not followed. The notice has to be issued 21 days prior to the beginning of the session. The session has been called hurriedly and in emergency," he said.

Kataria said a bill to extend reservation to SC and ST in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for another 10 years has to be ratified by January 25 but the government was careless about it earlier. The session was hurriedly called when the last date of ratification was near, he said.

When the governor continued his address, Kataria announced the decision to boycott the proceedings of the session. The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MLAs too boycotted the proceedings along with the BJP MLAs.

After the governor's address, other listed businesses was taken up.

The assembly secretary tabled a message from Rajya Sabha to the state assembly regarding the ratification of the Constitution (126th) Amendment Bill to extend reservation to SC and ST in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for another 10 years.

The bill is likely to be ratified by the assembly on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in a symbolic protest, a BJP MLA entered the assembly premises with a basket of locusts and asked the state government to expedite the distribution of compensation to farmers who have suffered losses in the insect attack.

"The seriousness of the government is not visible in addressing the issue of locust attack in western Rajasthan, which has damaged crops on lakhs of hectare of land," Nokha (Bikaner) MLA Bihari Lal told reporters.

"Instead of taking the issue very seriously, the government is focused against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The farmers have suffered huge losses due to the locust attack and the government should expedite the compensation distribution process," he said.

Noting that it was just a symbolic protest, Lal did not enter the House with the basket.