Heavy rains wreaked havoc in the state in July and August, triggering flash floods and landslides. The hill state suffered losses of around รข‚¹8,680 crore due to the calamity. The session would have seven sittings, including a private member day.
Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has made repeated appeals to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for declaring the recent natural calamity as a national disaster, but to no avail. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also wrote to the PM regarding this after her recent visit to flood-hit areas of the state. She had said that the Congress will take up the issue in the Parliament.
State industries minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, who also holds the portfolio of law and parliamentary affairs, has announced plans to introduce a resolution aimed at declaring the natural calamity as a national disaster.
Besides motions for discussion, 743 starred and 196 unstarred questions have been received by the Assembly secretariat, speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said on Saturday. He said that this session is very important in the wake of the recent natural calamities and hoped that meaningful discussions would be held on framing policies to combat climate change.
Stating that 70% of the Assembly business in the monsoon Session is regarding natural calamity, Pathania expressed hope that the House members would rise above political lines and raise issues in the interest of the state.
During the Budget session, the Assembly's productivity was 94% and the total sitting lasted 75 hours, the speaker said.
Replying to a question, he said that starting zero hour in the Assembly is under consideration and at present, urgent issues are raised through a point of order.
Live telecast of House proceedings is under consideration and various options, including launching the Assembly's own broadcast channel, are being explored, Pathania said, adding that an all-party meeting has been convened on Sunday.
The government has announced its intention to release a white paper, accusing the former Bharatiya Janata Party government of financial mismanagement. This came to fore after the finalisation of the draft during a cabinet sub-committee meeting at the state secretariat on Friday. It was chaired by deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri.
The draft white paper is expected to be presented to the chief minister before the upcoming monsoon session, where it will be presented in the House for scrutiny.
"We aim to chronicle the state's financial journey over the past five years, highlighting its trajectory from its inception to its current state," said Agnihotri. The deputy CM emphasised that "nothing can be made public regarding this right now."
In preparation for the assembly session, Agnihotri announced that the strategy for addressing opposition questions would be formulated during a meeting of Congress MLAs on September 18.
Meanwhile, leader of opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that so far, the Union government has extended all possible help to the flood-ravaged areas in the state. "I have written again to home minister Amit Shah to show more benevolence towards the state. There is no doubt that our MP's have been meeting the Union leaders to seek more help. BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda and Union minister Anurag Thakur visited Himachal and held a meeting with the CM," he said.
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