25 hours, six Bills; 31 questions taken up
SRINAGAR The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly was adjourned sine die on Wednesday after a seven-sitting Autumn Session that accounted for 25 hours of business, with members repeatedly flagging the limited time available to raise public and constituency issues.
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, in his concluding remarks, said the short duration of the session had constrained members’ opportunity to raise issues, seek answers from the Government and hold detailed deliberations on matters of public importance, and called for longer sessions in future.
The session, which began on September 21, saw the House pass six Government Bills. Of the 646 starred and unstarred questions received, only 31 were taken up on the floor.
Rather said the 646 questions comprised 328 starred and 318 unstarred questions. A total of 625 questions were listed, while 20 were disallowed and one was withdrawn. The 31 questions taken up generated 57 supplementary questions.
The House also received 79 Calling Attention Notices, of which 56 were admitted and 23 disallowed, while 30 were listed.
Rather said longer sessions would provide members greater opportunity to raise constituency-specific concerns and seek answers from the Government, besides easing pressure on the Chair. He reiterated that it was his responsibility to provide every member a fair and reasonable opportunity to participate in the proceedings.
He also said, from the first day of assuming the Chair, he had made it clear that he did not represent any particular political party and would discharge his responsibilities impartially and in the larger interest of the House.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary described the session as relatively short and said both the Treasury Benches and Opposition had made efforts to address issues concerning the people. He said the Assembly was an important institution and a legacy that all members were collectively responsible for strengthening.
CPI(M) MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said the challenging circumstances in J&K placed greater responsibility on elected representatives and stressed the importance of objective and responsible media coverage of Assembly proceedings.
MLA Pawan Kumar Gupta said the short session had limited members’ opportunity to discuss issues confronting the people and called for longer sessions to enable more MLAs to raise constituency-specific matters and allow more questions during Question Hour.
Other members, including Iftikhar Ahmed, Syed Aga Muntazir Mehdi and Tanvir Sadiq, appreciated Rather for conducting the proceedings and the Assembly Secretariat for facilitating the functioning of the House.
Meanwhile, the Assembly will take up for detailed discussion in its next session the acute shortage and non-availability of essential construction materials across J&K.
The issue was raised by several members, including Javid Hassan Baig, Saifuddin Bhat, Ajaz Ahmad Jan, Hilal Akbar Lone and Rajeev Jasrotia, who highlighted difficulties caused by the shortage in their respective areas.
Rather said the issue would be taken up in detail in the next session, while asking the Government to take necessary corrective measures in the meantime to ensure availability of essential construction materials and address difficulties affecting developmental and construction-related activities.
The Speaker, while adjourning the House sine die, thanked legislators, Assembly Secretariat staff and officials for their contribution to the conduct of the session.
