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Punjab CM tables Bills against Centre�s farm laws in assembly

20-Oct-2020

Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday introduced three Bills on the second day of the special session of the assembly to counter the Centre�s farm laws and questioned the procedure adopted by it to enact them. As soon as the House assembled at 10am, the chief minister introduced the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment Bill, 2020; the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment)?Bill, 2020. Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal presented the Code of Civil Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2020. After introducing the Bills, Captain Amarinder Singh spoke on Punjab�s contribution to agriculture and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi if the three recent farm laws can be termed justice. Amritsar East Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu also questioned Modi on implementing the MS Swaminathan report recommendations. �What happened to the promises? These new laws have snatched the basic rights of farmers. They will be helpless,� Sidhu said, alleging that the Centre�s intention was to finish the public distribution system (PDS). Shiromani Akali Dal legislators, led by Bikramjit Singh Majithia, burnt a copy of the Centre�s new farm laws outside the Vidhan Sabha.

AAP MLAs STAY?IN?ASSEMBLY?COMPLEX OVERNIGHT

The two-day special session began on Monday with the opposition Aam Aadmi Party MLAs holding a dharna and spending the night in the assembly complex, demanding copies of the Bills the Congress government was to introduce. The 13 AAP MLAs, who sat in the Well of the House till late on Monday evening after which they moved to the gallery outside the assembly, confined themselves within the complex. On Monday, finance and acting parliamentary affairs minister Manpreet Singh Badal said that the state government is consulting constitutional experts on the issue of legislation to counter the new farm laws and added copies of various Bills to be tabled during the session will be given to the opposition parties by the evening. Even after the adjournment of the session for the day on Monday afternoon, AAP legislators continued their dharna, demanding copies of the Bill to counter the legislation enacted by the Centre. Late at night, the Leader of Opposition and AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema said, �We will sit here through the night and continue the protest as we are yet get copies of this and other Bills to be tabled during the session. �The AAP will support the legislation against the farm laws but the government should have given us its copies. We haven�t got copies of other Bills as well. How can our legislators discuss and debate important issues?� Cheema said. As the assembly area had to be sanitized and sealed overnight in view of the Covid-19 situation, the AAP MLAs, including the women legislators of the party, were asked to shift outside the House. Earlier, the AAP members were persuaded by the Speaker, deputy speaker and Vidhan Sabha officials to end their protest, but they remained adamant on their demand.

WHEN CONGRESS MLAS SPENT NIGHT IN ASSEMBLY

Four years ago when Congress was in opposition in Punjab, their party MLAs had spent the night in the Punjab assembly seeking a debate on the no-confidence motion against the ruling SAD-BJP combine, which was defeated by voice vote, and had refused to vacate the House till the government gave an assurance that a discussion will be allowed on it.