- PATNA -- The state government
confirmed in the state assembly on Thursday that groundwaters available
in Hardri village of Nawada and Khaira village of Jamui districts were
polluted due to the presence of more than one per cent of fluoride.
Giving reply to a short notice question of Maheshwar Singh (Samata Party),
junior PHED minister Jamuna Ram said that fluoride filters were distributed
among the villagers concerned. The test was also conducted in other districts,
including Gaya, Munger, Begusarai and Araria, where waters were also found
to be contaminated due to the presence of fluoride, he added.
Singh, however, questioned the claim of the minister saying that the department,s
laboratory was not functioning. The minister, for his part, could not explain
when the test was conducted, or what preventive steps had been initiated
by the government. Sensing the mood of the House, Speaker Sadanand Singh
deferred the question and directed the minister to come to the House well
prepared.
The Speaker ordered an inquiry into functioning of the centrally-sponsored
integrated schemes, including cereal development programme, integrated
pesticides management scheme and management information service scheme.
The revenue collection in the state had been badly hit, as 216 posts of
circle officers (COs) were lying vacant for the past few years. When Chandra
Mohan Rai (BJP) sought to know by which time the government would be able
to fill up these vacancies, revenue minister Ramai Ram said that the matter
concerned the personnel department. When leader of the opposition Sushil
Kumar Modi pressed the government for a reply on the issue, the Speaker
directed the minister for personnel department to furnish details the next
day.
The House expressed concern over growing incidents of loot and robbery
occurring even during day in Patna. Raising the issue during zero hour,
Ashwani Kumar Choubey (BJP) said that vehicle lifters were active in the
city. They looted three vehicles, including of a local journalist, from
different localities, Choubey said.
Education budget passed: The opposition parties on Thursday attacked the
state government for educational anarchy and poor performance in literacy
movement while taking part in debate on the budgetary demands of education
departments in the state assembly.
JD-U member Gajendra Prasad Himanshu alleged that the policy of neglecting
education suited the ruling party in perpetuating its rule. The mass transfer
of school teachers was motivated by extraneous considerations, he alleged.
In course of debate, the legislators said the schools had no blackboards,
no buildings and insufficient teachers while the science departments of
colleges lacked scientific apparatus and chemicals. Teachers go without
salary for months at a stretch.
Ashwini Kumar Chaubey of the BJP moved a cut motion over the Rs 3062.92
crore budgetary demands of the primary, secondary and higher education
departments. However, the budgetary demands were passed by voice vote with
several opposition parties constituting the NDA staging a walkout over
the issue of Charwaha Vidyalayas.
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