Legislators of Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP on Wednesday wore black gowns to the Punjab Assembly with slogans demanding farm loan waiver pasted on their outfits.
MLAs of both the parties raised slogans inside the House demanding that the Congress government implement complete loan waiver for farmers. Soon after the question hour, SAD-BJP MLAs stormed the Well of the House and continued shouting slogans in support of their demand even after repeated requests by Speaker K.P. Rana to take their seats. The House was adjourned for thirty minutes.
Later, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that the government will table all reports of the various commissions set up by it in the Assembly.
Capt. Singh told reporters that while the report of the Narang Commission – set up to probe illegal sand mining – was ready to be presented in the House during the current budget session, the reports of the Justice (retd.) Ranjit Singh Commission constituted to investigate the sacrilege cases and Justice (retd.) Mehtab Singh Commission probing false cases registered during the SAD-BJP regime would be tabled in the Assembly once they are finalised.
He also announced waiver of the State government’s 50% share in the GST on the langar (community kitchen) at the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar. A similar waiver was also announced on langar/prasad for Durgiana Mandir and Valmiki Tirath Sthal.
The Chief Minister attacked the SAD and BJP for not opposing the imposition of GST before the GST Council. Pointing out that this was not the first time the subject came up for discussion in the House, he said, “It is obvious that the SAD is only trying to gain political mileage from the issue as it is not doing anything to force the BJP-led government at the Centre to waive off the GST on langar.”
