Bill on delimitation rejected
Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service
Jammu, March 6
Panther’s Party legislators Harsh Dev Singh, Balwant Singh Mankotia and Yashpal Kundal, staged a walkout in protest after the House via voice-vote rejected the Bill.
Harsh had moved a private member’s Bill for leave to introduce
“The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir (Amendment) Bill 2009” seeking increase in the number of Assembly constituencies via fresh delimitation.
In the wake of the long-pending demand for constitution of the delimitation commission so as to redraw Assembly constituencies and remove regional discrimination, the Bill should be passed, he said.
He coined a suggestion of having 52 Assembly seats each for Jammu and Kashmir regions, while having six for Ladakh region.
Besides this, 30 seats should be kept for the PoK refugees, out of which eight seats should be filled up from families, which have settled in Jammu, after being uprooted because of wars with Pakistan.
Harsh also sought an increase in the reserved seats for women from two to six.
Yet again, he cited population, size and difficult topography of Jammu region vis-à-vis Kashmir region.
Despite having bigger population, larger size and difficult terrain the Jammu region has 37 seats compared to 46 of the Kashmir region, he said, adding that BJP, too, had been raising this demand.
However, Finance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Abdul Rahim Rather, who opposed the Bill, reminded Harsh that if passed, the Bill would cast huge financial burden on a shackled state economy.
Accusing the government of being anti-Jammu, Harsh said he would not accept Rather’s logic and subsequently he, along with Mankotia and Yashpal Kundal, staged a walkout.
(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090307/j&k.htm#1)
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