The Himachal Pradesh Assembly witnessed heated exchanges of words between the ruling party and the Opposition over the collapse of newly constructed Ambedkar Bhawan in Daya village of Shillai Assembly constituency in Sirmaur district. The state government has launched a scheme to build one Ambedkar Bhawan in each constituency.

Responding to the question asked by Shillai MLA Harshwardhan Chauhan during the Question Hour, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the government would ask district officials to inquire into the reports of damage, if any, to the Ambedkar Bhawan. ?As per information available with the government, a portion of the structure has seen minor damage. We will direct the contractor to repair it within the existing cost,? said the chief minister.

Earlier, replying to Chauhan?s question, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Sarveen Chaudhary said the Ambedkar Bhawan at Daya was handed over to Kuhant gram panchayat in March 2010. The MLA, however, disagreed with her reply and said the newly built structure had totally collapsed and claimed that Chaudhary was misleading the House.

The minister reiterated that the building had sustained minor damage and asked the MLA to prove authenticity of the fact about its total collapse by showing a photograph to the House. Hearing this, Opposition MLAs were on their feet and Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur objected to the minister?s ?inappropriate words? in reference to the four-time elected senior MLA?s question and sought her apology. Later, the CM assured of an appropriate inquiry into the matter.

Replying to a question asked by Pachad MLA Gangu Ram Musafir, Public Works Department and Revenue Minister Gulab Singh Thakur said there had been excessive damage to property and crops across the state due to natural calamities this monsoon and due to drought earlier last year.

?Till now, the total damage in the state has been assessed at about Rs 170.64 crore. Just one week ago, it was Rs 84 crore. Assessment in a majority of the areas has not been done due to excessive rains and we believe the extent of loss will cross the normal mark. The heavy rain on Thursday night also caused damage in Kangra, Chamba and Mandi,? said Thakur.

Replying to a supplementary question of Kaul Singh Thakur, he said till now Rs 83 crore had been distributed as relief in all 12 districts. Of the Rs 27 crore distributed for relief to various departments, Rs 10 crore has been released to the PWD for repair of damaged property and roads.

Kin of politicians, influential persons among beneficiaries of discretionary quota plots

In a written reply to a question asked by Ghumarwin MLA Rajesh Dharmani, the urban development and housing department placed in the House the list of persons who were allotted plots by the Himachal Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) from discretionary quota of chairman (housing minister). It includes many influential persons, family members of certain politicians and government functionaries, who were given plots. The reply says the beneficiaries had applied to the HIMUDA chairman for these plots that were available for allotment out of discretionary quota and the chairman had approved their requests. The list includes 49 people who were allotted plots from the year 2007-08 till 2010-11.

Concern raised over marketing of mango

In a resolution brought in the Assembly by Dehra MLA Yog Raj under Rule 130, concern was raised over marketing of mango crop in the lower areas of Himachal Pradesh. Yog Raj raised the issue and sought government?s support to increase the facilities for marketing of mango. ?Due to lack of proper marketing infrastructure, the growers are not getting appropriate economic returns and thus have lost interest in the mango crop. As a result, the production has fallen in Kangra district, which produces 50 percent of the state?s mango crop, in the recent years ? from 45,000 metric tonnes in 2005-06 to 13,000 MT this year,? he said. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the previous BJP government had announced a minimum support price for mango ? earlier it was only for apple. ?Now, mango is also covered under weather-based insurance scheme. Collection centres and marketing yards have also been increased. And the government assures more support in future.?