Minister keeps Oppn out of water debate

Mumbai, April 11: Several Opposition members today strongly protested Minister of State for Public Health Eknath Gaikwad's decision not to...

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Mumbai, April 11: Several Opposition members today strongly protested Minister of State for Public Health Eknath Gaikwad’s decision not to invite Opposition MLAs for a meeting in the Chandrapur district collectorate to discuss water problems.

Raising the issue through a point of propriety, BJP member Sudhir Mungantiwar said that Gaikwad, who is Guardian Minister of Chandrapur, had convened a meeting to discuss local water problems. He said that despite being a local MLA, he was not invited for the meeting and inquiries have revealed that Gaikwad had issued orders to the resident Deputy Collector that MLAs of opposition parties should not be invited.

Mungantiwar further said he was in possession of written orders issued by the minister and that if the Government did not want to follow the democratic practice of involving the Opposition in discussions, he would resign.

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Assembly Speaker Arun Gujarathi asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rohidas Patil to take serious note of the issue and told Opposition members that it was not an issue which could be dealt with with a point of propriety but they could even move a privilege motion against the minister. He also urged Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to look into the matter.

COTTON FIRES: Minister for Marketing Ganpatrao Deshmukh today ordered an investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) into the fires at the cotton procurement centre in Balanagar in Paithan tehsil of Aurangabad district.

Replying to a calling attention motion moved by Kalpana Narhire and others, Deshmukh said there were two fires at the same place within a year and hence the investigation would be handed over to the CID.

He told the House that a fire had gutted cotton bales worth Rs 4.37 lakh on March 4 while cotton worth Rs 69,000 had been destroyed in a fire last year.

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Opposition members Narihire, Abhaysingh Raje-Bhonsale, Jaiprakash Mundada and others described the fires as mysterious and that the Government should order a CID probe. Accordingly, the Minister announced a CID probe.

He said the fire at the Balanagar centre had started from November 11, 1999 and till March 4, about 30,745 quintals of cotton had been procured. He further stated that about 24,553 quintals of cotton had been procesed and about 10,349 quintals of cotton had been lying at the centre on the day the fire broke out.

MINISTER GRILLED: Minister for Forests Surupsingh Naik was grilled by Opposition members over disparities in the prices of bamboo supplied to farmers and the Ballashah paper mill.

While replying to supplementaries on a starred question of Ashok Nete, Naik said the Government was providing bamboo to farmers for Rs 6 to Rs 6.25 apiece in Chandrapur and Gadchirolil districts. However, when a BJP member asked the rate at which bamboo was supplied to the paper mill, Naik said it was Rs 2.40. The reply annoyed Opposition members, who accused the Government of taxing farmers and favouring the mill. Opposition members Adsud, Mahadev Shivankar and others demanded bamboos for the farmers at concessional rates .

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Naik said that bamboo supplied to the farmers was green bamboos while those supplied to the mills were dried ones. He expressed his inability to bring parity in the rates. Assembly Speaker Arun Gujarathi intervened and asked the minister to call a meeting to discuss the issue and satisfy the queries of the members as it would require the examination of several documents.