Logjam continues in Punjab Assembly as Opposition insists on minister Fauja Singh Sarari's dismissal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 30

Standoff over the demand of sacking and arrest of Cabinet Minister Fauja Singh Sarari for his alleged involvement in a corruption case continued in the state Assembly for the consecutive second day today.

The Punjab State Vigilance Commission (Repeal) Bill

The Vigilance Commission wasn’t serving any useful objectives, except being a burden on the state exchequer. There are multiple agencies to deal with stakeholders, including the Vigilance Dept. The amendment will help in avoiding overlapping, contradictory findings, resultant delays and gaps in communication, as it has become necessary to repeal the Punjab State Vigilance Commission Act-2020

Punjab Rural Common Lands (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2022

This amendment will bring clarity that the land reserved for common purposes during the consolidation titled as “jumla mustarka malkan” is also “shamlat deh” as defined in Section 2(g) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act-1961

Punjab Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill

With this amendment, the government aims to plug all loopholes and stop bogus billing, which will not only benefit the traders but will also increase the revenue of the state. Also, tax evaders will be dealt with severely. Further, to facilitate the ease of doing business, the time period to avail the input tax credit has been extended till November 30

Internal probe already on: Arora

CM Bhagwant Mann has already issued a statement that an internal investigation is underway on the issue related to minister Fauja Singh Sarari. A decision in the matter will be taken only after the inquiry gets completed. Still the Opposition is disturbing the House. — Aman Arora, new and renewable energy sources minister

The Sarari row dominated the proceedings of the day from the start, when Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa raised the issue and demanded assurance to the House from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Bajwa said Mann had not given any statement in the House on the issue, so he must come up with one.

The issue kept on coming back to haunt the ruling AAP time and again. The situation became bitter when the CM entered the House and the Opposition started demanding assurance from him on action against Sarari. However, Speaker Kultar Sandhwan gave the go-ahead to table the three Bills in the House. Congress MLAs then started raising slogans and entered in the Well of the House.

The Speaker tried to persuade them to go back and take their seats but all in vain as the Opposition MLAs continued to raise slogans against him as well as the AAP government.

Three Bills, including The Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulations) Amendment Bill, 2022, The Punjab State Vigilance Commission (Repeal) Bill 2022 and

The Punjab Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2022, were passed without any discussion.

The Speaker even requested the Opposition MLAs to initiate a debate on the Bills but the latter refused to budge. As there was no discussion on the Bills, the session came to an end almost three hours before the scheduled time.

Sidelights

‘Man of the match’

LoP Partap Bajwa flagged how the Opposition leaders are never shown speaking during the live telecast of the House proceedings. AAP MLA from Nabha Dev Mann rose from his seat and said, “Tuhadi koi shakal hi nahi dekhna chahunda (No one wants to see your face)”. It led to an uproar and the Speaker warned the MLA about taking a strict notice of his derogatory remark against the LoP.

The ‘miserable’ minister

During the Calling Attention Motion, an AAP MLA wanted to bring an issue of public interest to the notice of minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal. But he was busy ‘conversing’ with a fellow minister and was dumbfounded when the Speaker asked him to respond. Dhaliwal then asked the Speaker to repeat what he said. He was finally bailed out by MLA Meet Hayer, who swiftly turned the pages and handed over the answer to him.

Dhaliwal’s pink sartorial sense

Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal on Friday came to the House in an all-pink attire. LoP Partap Bajwa laid emphasis on seeking the exact date of girdawari for the crop loss from him. When Dhaliwal tried to beat around the bush, Bajwa took a jibe at him, saying the colour of the pest (pink bollworm) matches with his turban.

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