Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was adjourned for the day today after opposition Congress and NCP repeatedly disrupted the proceedings for the third successive day of the winter session over their demand for complete loan waiver for farmers affected by drought-like situation.
The members of both the parties trooped in the well of the House as soon as it assembled in morning and created a din over "growing number of suicides" by farmers, and sought complete loan waiver.
Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil raised the issue under rule 57 and requested Speaker Haribhau Bagde to suspend the question hour and announce financial package for farmers who were hit by drought-like situation.
He was supported by senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar who turned down the request made by treasury benches to let the question hour function as the same could not be conducted since last two days due to protests.
Pawar said there was no point in initiating discussions and that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis or Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, who were present in House, should announce the package for farmers.
Meanwhile, notwithstanding the notice under rule 57, the Speaker proceeded with question hour.
Replying to Pawar, Khadse said the government was ready for discussion which might provide an opportunity to opposition parties to go deeper into the issue.
However, the Congress and NCP leaders rejected his appeal and continued with protests, following which Speaker adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
However, the opposition members continued with their protests by staying put into well even after the House reassembled after 10 minutes, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the proceedings till the end of question hour.
After the question hour, Panel Speaker Yogesh Sagar who was in chair adjourned the House for the day as uproar continued.
Sagar is one of the Speakers of a five-member panel announced at the beginning of the session by Bagde, who can preside over the proceedings in Speaker's absence.
(Reopens BES12)
Before the Assembly was adjourned, the Maharashtra government informed the House during the Question Hour that 799 people lost their lives in last year due to electrocution, of which 40 were state government employees.
Mumbai legislator Ashish Shelar had sought to know from the government if it was true that an outdated electricity distribution system and absence of a mechanism to correct the faults were responsible for deaths due to electrocution.
In a written response to the query, Maharashtra Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, "In the last one year from April 2014 to March 2015, 799 people lost their lives due to electrocution. Out of these, 40 were state government employees."
He informed the House that power distribution companies are undertaking various programmes to create awareness among consumers to ensure that instances of electrocution come down.
