Srinagar: The 10-day autumn session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly came to an end today as the Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone adjourned the house sine die.
As Lone was announcing the adjournment of the assembly Sine Die at the conclusion of the day’s listed business, opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members staged a walkout.
The PDP MLAs walked out in protest as the government did not make a statement as to how it had given two contradictory answers to the same question submitted by its members Peerzada Mansoor Hussain and Zulfikar Ali in the assembly.
The issue was raised by PDP president Mehbooba Mufti ahead of the Question Hour.
“In response to the question submitted by Hussain, the government said it has not engaged any casual labourers but had sanctioned 43,000 such posts. In response to Ali’s question, it has admitted that over 33,000 have been engaged,” Mehbooba said while waving the written answers given by the government.
She said this points to the fact that there was something fishy in the matter and the appointments were made through the back door.
Lone assured the leader of the opposition that the concerned minister will make a statement as soon as he comes to the House on the issue.
However, the concerned minister did not turn up, leading to the walkout by PDP members.
Barring one incident, the autumn session of the assembly passed off smoothly without any major fireworks that have been seen over the past few years.
Three activists of a newly-floated political party created a flutter in the assembly by jumping into the members’ area on Monday as they raised slogans demanding implementation of employment policy in the state.
The LPG crises in the state, caused by the Centre’s decision to put a cap on number of subsidised cylinders, and recent killing of panchayat members and empowerment of panchayati Raj institutions dominated the session.