By our correspondent, Gandhinagar, 26 March 2012

All Congress MLAs were suspended from the house on Tuesday, after they shouted slogans and rushed to the well, demanding discussion on water and fodder issues in the Gujarat assembly today.

During the question hour, Leader of opposition Shankersinh Vaghela sought discussion on drinking water and fodder situation in the state, however his demand was turned down. In reaction to this, Congress MLAs stood up and started shouting slogans. Later they rushed to the well which invited their suspension from the house for a day.

Speaking to media persons outside the assembly complex, Shri Vaghela said that Congress MLAs requested discussion on this issue for 17 times, but every time it was disapproved.

Reacting to Revenue minister’s statement on the situation of drought, Vaghela said, “it has happened for the first time that in one taluka, only some villages are declared scarcity-hit.Earlier entire taluka was declared scarcity-hit”.

Vaghela said, “I met Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar ten days back and he said why Gujarat government has not made any representation on the issue of water? While central government has declared 17 districts of Gujarat scarcity-hit and has provided Rs 865 crore relief package, the state government on the other hand has declared only 10 district’s 59 talukas as fully or partially scarcity-hit. Thus the state government has skipped seven deserving districts from the list of scarcity-hit districts, and thus has done injustice to people and the farmers in those districts.”

“In south Gujarat, many tribal talukas are experiencing shortage of drinking water, but they are not declared scarcity-affected,” Vaghela said.

“The BJP government in Gujarat raises issues like Italian marine and Pakistan, and discusses such issues for hours just for political benefit, but after 17 requests, discussion on drought is not approved,” he further said.