Shimla: The monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly will be held from Aug 21 to Sept 3, with 10 sittings scheduled for the period. The session is expected to witness intense political exchanges between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP.Vidhan sabha speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania has called an all-party meeting on Thursday to ensure a smooth monsoon session. With the upcoming monsoon session, the assembly will complete 26 sittings this year, including the 16 sittings held during the budget session in March-April.Briefing the mediapersons on Wednesday, Pathania said the productivity of the Himachal Pradesh vidhan sabha was among the best in the country and had even reached 132% at times. He assured that all legislators would be given adequate time to raise issues concerning the public.Pathania also said the vidhan sabha might constitute an assurance committee under the speaker’s chairmanship to ensure that assurances given by the ministers on the floor of the House are implemented. Such a committee had functioned earlier but was discontinued after the standing committee’s constitution.The assembly secretariat has received 1,036 questions – 787 starred and 249 unstarred – from MLAs for the monsoon session. Most of the questions relate to vacancies in educational institutions and health facilities, losses caused by the ongoing monsoon season, dilapidated roads and bridges, transport, tourism, horticulture, and water resources.MLAs have also submitted 13 calling attention notices under Rule 62, two notices under Rule 63 for two-hour discussions, 15 notices under Rule 130 and five items under Rule 101 for private members’ day. The vidhan sabha secretariat has forwarded the questions to the state govt, and replies are awaited.Pathania said five to seven privilege motion issues raised by MLAs were pending, although most had been resolved amicably. The petition committee has received more than 150 petitions, of which nearly 75 have been disposed of. Around 99% of petitioners in disposed of cases received relief, he added.The speaker further said the assembly had not received any complaint from an MLA alleging politically motivated FIRs against them.Stormy session ahead?The session is likely to be tempestuous as the opposition BJP plans to target the govt over “politically motivated” FIRs against the party legislators, fiscal “mismanagement” and unfulfilled poll promises. Other issues likely to dominate the session include unemployment, law and order, illegal mining and drug abuse. The state govt, on the other hand, is expected to press the BJP-led Centre for the immediate release of the pending Rs 1,500-crore disaster relief package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last September.
