Guwahati: The entire Opposition bench, comprising Congress, AIUDF, Raijor Dal and TMC, staged a walkout after three adjournment motions on different subjects were rejected by speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass in the Assam assembly on Monday.Leader of the opposition Wajed Ali Choudhury of Congress moved an adjournment motion over irregular electricity supply in the state. “In this extreme summer, people are suffering due to frequent power cuts. There is no power supply round the clock as claimed by the govt. Already, smart prepaid meters have been installed and govt is collecting the electricity bills timely. If people do not do electricity recharge timely, then their connections are disconnected,” he said.Choudhury said the electricity demand goes up to around 3,000 MW during the summer. “Against the demand, the state produces only about 500 MW on its own and purchases the remaining power from various sources. Despite all these efforts, why is there no round-the-clock power supply in the state? This is an urgent situation, requiring a detailed discussion by leaving aside other works,” he said.Raijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi drew the House’s attention to the dropping enrolment ratio in govt schools in the past four years. “There was a decrease of 25,67,793 students in govt and provisional schools in the last four years. This is data mentioned in a report of the education ministry. The Centre repeatedly warned the state education department about the falling rate and asked them to act, but no corrective measures were taken,” he said. “Our education department is in danger. To safeguard the education sector, I request you (speaker ) to stop all other business and discuss this problem,” he added.All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Mazibur Rahman moved the third adjournment motion, alleging that several people werepushed back to Bangladesh in recent months on suspicion of illegal entry. “If they are really infiltrators, then it is fine. But in many cases, genuine Indian citizens are pushed and left unattended at no man’s land. This is a gross violation of human rights as well as international laws,” he said. He also alleged that some inmates wentmissing from the detention camp in Goalpara and sought an urgent discussion.After listening to all the three motions, speaker Dass said, “I received two adjournment notices from Congress and Raijor Dal. Although these are related to public issues, they are not of urgent nature. These matters can be discussed under any other device as the House has assembled for a long budget session.”The speaker also said the matter on which AIUDF brought the adjournment motion wasraised through Rule 54. “So, there is no need for the adjournment motion on the same topic. Therefore, I reject all the three notices,” Dass said.Protesting this, all the Opposition members stepped into the Well of the House and raised slogans while holding placards. Reacting to this, the speaker said, “No member can show placards and raise slogans inside the House as per Rule 275 of the House.”The House marshals took away the placards from the opposition members. After this, the opposition staged a walkout and returned after a while.
