Govt faces embarrassment as I&C Minister fails to give specific reply

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 24: Government today faced embarrassment in the Legislative Assembly as Minister for Industries and Commerce Chander Parkash Ganga failed to give convincing replies to the MLAs on vacant plots in the Industrial Estates, which prompted the Speaker to defer the question.
The PDP MLA Mohammad Ashraf Mir had sought reply from the Government about the number of plots vacant/available for allotment in different Industrial Estates of SIDCO and SICOP in Kashmir and Jammu.
However, the Industries and Commerce Minister Chander Parkash Ganga only gave information about two Industrial Estates that too of Kashmir valley. He informed the House that 54 plots are lying vacant in Industrial Estate Khonmoh and Indian Growth Centre Lassipora.
The PDP MLA Mohammad Ashraf Mir, while pointing out incomplete reply, wanted to know why the information about other Industrial Estates has not been provided. He, while referring to another part of his question, said that plots cancelled in the Industrial Estates of J&K SIDCO and J&K SICOP have been shown as re-allotted but what mechanism has been adopted in this regard has not been revealed.
Though the Industries Minister made attempt to answer the supplementary questions of the PDP MLA yet he failed to give any convincing reply. Expressing concern over this, the CPM MLA Mohd Yousuf Tarigami said, “this indicates that Minister is not prepared to answer the queries of MLAs”.
Asking the Government not to take the House proceedings for granted, Tarigami demanded that question should be deferred so that Minister comes prepared to answer the queries of the MLAs.
He was joined by National Conference MLA Devender Singh Rana, who pointed out that question was pertaining to Industrial Estates in both the regions of the State but the reply furnished by the Minister was confined to only two Industrial Estates of Kashmir valley. The NC MLA too demanded that the question should be deferred.
As the Industries Minister was looking at officers’ gallery, Tarigami remarked, “Commissioner Secretary is not going to come in the House to answer our queries…… Minister has to come prepared”. He reiterated demand for deferment of the question.
On this, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri suggested that if the members of the House were not satisfied with the reply of the Minister there was no harm in deferring the question. Later, the Speaker Kavinder Gupta deferred the question and asked for its listing in the coming days.

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