BJP stages walkout in Himachal Assembly over closure of stone crushers

Sukhu explained the reasons for closing the stone crushers and as soon as Pathania called for the next question, the BJP members accused the government of giving incomplete information, started raising slogans and staged a walkout.

Dharamshala: Dissatisfied with the reply of the state government on the closure of stone crushers, the Opposition on Wednesday staged a walkout in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.

Frayed tempers were seen as heated exchanges ensued between the treasury and opposition benches. Intervening in the matter, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu explained the reasons for closing the stone crushers.

As soon as Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania called for the next question, the BJP members accused the government of giving incomplete information, started raising slogans and staged a walkout.

Sukhu said that the government was planning to mop up revenue of Rs 5 crore from mining and proposed to amend the existing mining policy as it was allegedly causing a loss of revenue.

During the monsoon, a decision was taken to close 128 stone crushers in Beas basin but there was no revenue loss as closure of stone crushers during the rainy season till September 15 was a normal practice, he claimed.

Referring to the increase in the rate of grit and sand, Sukhu said that the government was considering adding the cost of sand and stones in the cost of construction.

Bikram Singh Thakur and Bipin Singh Parmar (both BJP), dubbed the decision of the government as 'anti-people'. They alleged that it not only compelled the people to pay higher prices, but also rendered 1,600 people jobless.

Replying to the main question of Parmar and Hoshiyar Singh, the industries minister said that mining is not permitted in the basins of rivers and their tributaries during the rainy season till September 15, and mining activities are allowed thereafter, and only the operation of stone crusher was stopped.

He said that most of the labourers working in stone crushers are from other states and only a few are from Himachal Pradesh, and they would back to work after the operations are resumed.

Before the start of the session, BJP leaders carrying small baskets of cow dung on their heads, led by the Leader of Opposition Jai Ram lodged protest against alleged non-fulfilment of poll guarantees by the Congress government in the Assembly campus at Tapovan in Dharamshala.

The BJP legislators raised slogans 'Sukhu bhai Sukhu bhai, dus guarantee kithe pai' (Sukhu brother, where are the ten guarantees?) and said that cheating with farmers would not be tolerated and the state government has to buy cow dung for Rs 2 per kg as promised.

Talking to media people, Thakur said that the Congress leaders had made ten promises to the people of the state on the eve of the last Assembly polls and one year has completed, but the public is still waiting for the poll guarantees to be fulfilled.