(Tribune)
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant today cited the ongoing Char Dham yatra and incomplete construction work as the reasons behind the Trivendra Singh government’s decision not to hold the Budget session at Gairsain.Pant said, “It was not practical to take the entire establishment to Gairsain for conducting the proceedings of the House when the Char Dham yatra was already on,” he said in his reply to the Opposition’s charge of dishonouring the resolution on holding the Budget session in Gairsain, passed last year, when the Congress government was in power.Pant raised doubts over the intentions of the previous Congress government on the status of Gairsain.
“The government failed to come to a certain conclusion about the status of Gairsain but continued to cash in on the highly emotive issue. Instead let us look for a permanent solution,” he said.However, Leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh and Congress MLA Govind Singh Kunjwal tore into the minister’s arguments and charged the Trivendra Singh government for failing to honour the unanimous proposal passed by the Vidhan Sabha and even staged a brief walkout.
