Pandemonium in both houses of Parliament over UTI issue

Our Political Bureau

New Delhi, Aug 10: The ongoing UTI muddle again rocked both Houses of Parliament on Friday during the zero hour leading to adjournment of the Lok Sabha (LS) for two hours.

Earlier in the day, the government admitted in the LS during the question hour that the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) was not as per expectations.

Finance minister Yashwant Sinha sought to allay the apprehensions of the members that introduction of value added tax (VAT) would result in revenue loss to the states.

The issue of procurement of wagons by the Railways also figured in both Houses with the government assuring that the ministry would take a decision on giving orders for wagons as soon as it receives legal opinion in the matter.

Raising the UTI issue in the Lower House, Congress members sought clarifications from the Mr Sinha on letters reportedly written to him by former UTI chairman PS Subramanyam. Lashing out at the Opposition, an agitated Mr Sinha said it was ‘extremely unfair’ on its part not to have allowed him to reply to the adjournment motion on the issue last week.

As Congress members protested against this, the ruling members displayed newspaper clippings of a report alleging instructions being given by a Congress member to a foreign bank to transfer certain amounts to another bank in violation of regulations.

With members from both sides storming the well, Speaker GMC Balayogi adjourned the House till 2 pm.

Earlier, the government admitted during the question hour that FDI was not up to its expectations. Commerce and industry minister Murasoli Maran conceded that red tape was the cause for low FDI touching only $4 billion against the targeted $10 billion.

In the Upper House, railway minister Nitish Kumar said the government was facing problems of wagon procurement in the wake of the general economic slowdown as the private sector had not made enquiries under “own your wagon” and “build operate lease transfer” schemes.

He said out of the 23,000 wagons proposed to be manufactured this year, 17,000 were to be procured by the government and 6,000 by the private sector. While no player had come forward under the schemes for the private sector, the Railways were also enquiring into the use of inferior steel for wagons, he said.

The issue was raised in the LS during the zero hour by CPM member Basudev Acharia and the minister of state for railways Digvijay Singh assured that the ministry would take a decision on giving orders for wagons as soon as it receives legal opinion in the matter.

Mr Acharia said seven units manufacturing wagons, all located in West Bengal, were facing hardships for want of orders and four had been closed down temporarily.