JOIN USBudget passed in UP Assembly; House adjourned sine die
The Uttar Pradesh legislature was adjourned sine die on Thursday after the Assembly passed the annual budget for 2021-22 with the largest ever outlay and the Council returned it.
The government had presented the last budget of its current tenure last week with an outlay of Rs 5,50,270.78 crore.
The first paperless budget of Uttar Pradesh, which intends to make the state "aatmanirbhar" (self-reliant), as Finance Minister Suresh Khanna put it, includes new schemes worth Rs 27,598.40 crore.
The brief session, which was to conclude on March 10, was curtailed following request from lawmakers to wrap up the proceedings so that they could campaign for the upcoming panchayat elections in the state.
Hours after the Assembly was adjourned sine die, the Upper House of the bicameral state legislature too followed suit after completing the listed business.
As soon as the Assembly met for the day, Khanna who is also the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, said that due to the upcoming panchayat polls and recurrence of COVID-19 cases in some states, the proceedings of the House will be completed and the House will be adjourned on Thursday.
Leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Chodhury termed it "murder of democracy" and said that assembly members did not have to contest panchayat polls and the House should be run till March 10 as decided earlier.
BSP leader Lalji Verma and Congress legislature party leader Aradhna Mishra Mona too cited rules and said that proceedings should continue and there was no reason for curtailing the session.
Khanna, however, cited examples of 2009, 2006 and 1991 and said that as the cases of coronavirus were also rising, the budget should be passed and the House adjourned sine die.
Dissatisfied with the "undemocratic" move of the government, the opposition SP, BSP, Congress and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) staged a walkout.
Later, budget and related appropriation bills were passed by voice vote.
Several amendment bills were passed before the House was adjourned sine die.
The session commenced on February 18 with the governor's customary address to the joint sitting of both the Assembly and the Legislative Council, but it was marked by opposition protests and walkout.
While replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the governor for her address, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slammed the opposition for their "behaviour".
Later, while speaking on the budget, the chief minister flayed the Samajwadi Party, accusing it of presenting "directionless" budgets in the past, unlike his budget which was "lauded by various chambers of commerce and welcomed by all sections of the society".
Opposition parties, on the other hand, said the budget was anti-poor and anti-farmer.
As the opposition tried to corner the government on the issue of law and order, Adityanath on Wednesday sought to turn the tables on the SP over incidents of crime in the state, asking why the word "Samajwadi" gets tagged to every criminal.
Adityanath referred to the Hathras incident in which a man out on bail after his 2018 arrest in a molestation case allegedly shot dead the victim's father.
The Assembly on Monday passed two key bills, including one that relates to recovery of damages to public and private properties from protesters, amid opposition demands that it be referred to a select committee.
According to the statement of reasons and object of the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Bill, 2021, protesters found guilty of damaging government or private properties will face imprisonment of one year or a fine ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
The House also passed the Uttar Pradesh Goonda Control (Amendment) Bill, 2021 to empower joint and deputy commissioners of police to act under the legislation.