Gujarat Budget session likely to be stormy

The presentation of Gujarat state budget 2007-08 is set to be a stormy affair on February 23 as Congress has indicated the opposition's determination to protest `false promises' and 'baseless statements' of the ruling party.

State Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma today addressed the eleventh legislative assembly session.

The governor highlighted the overall status of various government projects. Talking about Sardar Sarovar Project, Sharma said, "Till now 2.04 lakh hectare has been brought under development. It has been proposed to develop five lakh hectare by June 2007. So far, under this project Rs 5,788 crore has been spent on the main dam and the power house and Rs. 10,000 crore have been spent on canals."

On the development in the state agriculture sector, he said, "The average agricultural production, which was worth Rs 9,000 crore before 2003, has reached an unprecedented level of Rs 32,000 crore, which is a record in itself. The growth rate of agriculture has reached 13 per cent. The national growth rate in the same sector is only two per cent. The area of cultivation during kharif and rabi has increased to 125 lakh hectare this year from 95 lakh hectare."

The governor also highlighted huge investments promised by industrialists during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit 2007 and the IT Summit 2006. Later in the second session four Bills, including Gujarat Emergency Medical Service Bill, Gujarat Municipality (Amendment) Bill and Pandit Dindayal Petroleum University Bill were tabled.

Earlier in the day, police lathicharged members of the Congress who took out a protest march from Sabarmati Ashram to Gandhinagar. They planned to present a memorandum to the governor highlighting the failures of the BJP government.

According to Congress sources, as many as four persons were injured in the incident and were admitted to the local civil hospital.

The police also used water cannons in the incident to control the crowd. The para military and Rapid Action Force (RAF) jawans were deployed everywhere in Gandhinagar. The rally, which started from Gandhi Ashram early morning, ended at Gandhinagar.

Some Congress workers tried to burn the effigy of Narendra Modi but the police intervened and snatched the effigy from the angry Congressmen. The state Congress plans three more protest marches during the budget session.