Home scandal rocks House

Patna: Just two questions could be asked during Question Hour on Wednesday as Opposition members rushed to the Well after Congress MLA Vijay Shankar Dubey raised the issue of sexual exploitation of minor girls in a short stay home in Muzaffarpur.

Replying to a query, rural development department minister Shravan Kumar said out of 18,02,633 Indira Awas homes sanctioned between 2012-13 and 2015-16, 1,210,119 units had been constructed and work was on to complete the remaining units. He came up with the information during Question Hour, in reply to a query by BJP MLA Mithilesh Tiwari who wanted to know the status of this scheme.

Replying to one more query from Tiwari, regarding the status of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural) scheme, the minister said that out of 6,87,274 sanctioned dwelling units under this scheme, work had been completed in 45,514 units and a special drive had been launched to complete another 3 lakh dwelling units by August 15.

Shravan maintained that regular monitoring was being done under this scheme at different levels to ensure work under the scheme is completed in time.

The second question came from Vinay Bihari of the BJP who drew the government’s attention towards erosion being caused by the Sikrahna river in two villages of West Champaran.

Replying to the query, the water resources minister said erosion was not being caused by the river but steps had been taken to safeguard these two villages from any such threat in future. The state government had come up with a detailed reply on this issue in the House on Tuesday itself.

Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary reminded Opposition members that they had stalled proceedings on the same issue a day earlier. Even parliamentary affairs minister Shravan Kumar said the government had already given the answer on this issue.

Opposition members, however, refused to budge and some of them also banged at the reporters’ table, which didn’t go down well with the Speaker, who said the chair would be forced to take disciplinary action. As Opposition members continued their protest, the House was adjourned till 2pm.

Courtesy: The Telegraph