Rajya Sabha lost 44 hours of work due to disturbances: Ansari

Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die today after a month-long Monsoon Session which saw passage of 18 legislations, including the landmark Food Security Bill and Land Acquisition Bill, but lost 44 hours of work due to disturbances over various issues.
"There were spells of calm and fury," Chairman Hamid Ansari said, summing up the proceedings of the session, which was extended by six days beyond its term that was to originally end on August 30.
The House lost about 43 per cent of 98 hours of scheduled time due to disturbances over Telangana issue, missing files of coal block allocations, land deal linked to Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, Chinese incursions and killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

The issue of killing of a social activist in Maharashtra, 84 Kose Yatra by VHP, government's move to fill up two vacancies in JPC on 2G spectrum and deletion of remarks of Leader of Opposition in the House Arun Jaitley made during the statement made by Prime Minister also figured prominently in the House.
The session also saw day-long suspension of two TDP members three times for continuously disrupting the House by protesting against creation of Telangana state.
The Question Hour could not be taken up on 8 days due to pandemonium and interruptions in the House over one or the other issue.

An apparently unhappy Ansari observed, "The Question Hour continued to remain a casualty. It could function only on 6 of the stipulated 14 days. Only 28 out of 300 Starred Questions were answered orally while about 2,300 Unstarred Questions were provided written answers.