Raj House passes Goods Control Bill amidst strong opposition

Rajasthan Assembly today witnessed high drama over the goods control bill as Congress walked out of the House opposing passing of the bill in current form.
The Rajasthan Goods (Control of Production, Supply, Distribution and Trade and Commerce) Bill 2014 was passed by a voice vote in the absence of Congress legislators and Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, who raised objections to the bill.
During discussion on the bill in the Assembly, Congress demanded that it be sent to a select committee so that necessary amendments can be done before the bill is passed.
This was backed by Rural Development Minister Kataria, who also opposed the bill in the current form and said it should not be passed in a hurry.

Terming the bill anti-farmers, senior BJP legislator Ghanshyam Tiwari said that the provisions of the bill would promote inspector-raj regime by giving more powers to district collectors who may be misuse them against the farmers.
Even as legislators raised opposition to the bill, MoS Food Hem Singh Bhadana said that that bill was being introduced for the common man and dubbed it progressive.
He said that the legislation will empower the government to regulate production, supply, distribution, trade and commerce of goods which would be declared by the state government from time to time so that hoarding, black marketing, hiking of price and artificial scarcity could be suppressed effectively.

Unhappy with the response, Congress members walked out of the Assembly, and the bill was passed by voice vote.