Valuable time being wasted: SP

Bhopal, Mar 14: Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator Narayan Tripathi on Friday alleged in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly that valuable time during Question Hour is wasted on trivial issues and not all questions are taken up as a result. Rejecting the allegations of wastage of time, Speaker Ishwardas Rohani pointed out that on several occasions not only all the questions were taken up but a second round was carried out.

He said the member was uttering an untruth and he himself did not remain present in the House the whole day. As soon as the proceedings got underway, Commercial Tax Minister Babulal Gaur turned towards Deputy Assembly Speaker Hazarilal Raghuvanshi and passed a joke. Raghuvanshi gave his reply and other members started presenting their viewpoints. In a lighter mood, CPI-M member Ramlakhan Sharma remarked that he was the Leader of Opposition for Friday and the Speaker recognised him so. After comments by several members, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra took objection to the absence of Congress members and stated that a lot of money was spent in gathering answers. Sharma countered this and Tripathi registered his objection.

Later, Leader of Opposition Jamuna Devi and other Congress members arrived in the House. The Speaker rejected Tripathi's objection and expunged several remarks. The Question Hour ended ten minutes prior to schedule due to the absence of several members. The Speaker also called the names of members for a second round. During the Question Hour, the Speaker took exception to the behaviour of Govind Singh of Congress and said the proceedings of the House would be carried out as per rules.

He said a member who raised the question can authorise other members to ask questions on his behalf. However, this authorisation would not be accepted by fax and the concerned member had to follow given procedure. Singh said he had been authorised by Brajendra Singh Rathore of Congress by fax to ask questions on his behalf. There was a brief argument between Singh and Rohani over the issue.