The Legislative Assembly on Thursday witnessed uproarious scenes over ‘selective’ macadamisation of roads in J&K, with the opposition targeting the Roads and Buildings minister Naeem Akhter for ‘ignoring’ their constituencies.
Pandemonium broke out in the House during question hour when NC legislators charged the minister of resorting to “discrimination.”
NC MLA from Pahalgam Altaf Wani accused the minister of resorting to political vendetta. “He is playing politics. He has discriminated with Srinagar where PDP won five Assembly seats. We never complained about discrimination when Altaf Bukhari and Abdul Rehman Veeri headed the department,” he said.
Pointing towards BJP legislators, Altaf said: “Is this your Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas?”
He took potshots at Akhter for his absence in the House. “He is not member of this House. So he is not taking the House seriously,” he said.
Senior NC leader and MLA Khanyar Ali Muhammad Sagar also came down heavily on the government for ignoring the opposition constituencies. “He has made discrimination within discrimination,” Sagar said in reference to macadamisation in Zadibal segment of Srinagar.
He said government has macadamised 171 kilometers in Amira Kadal and 84 kilometres in Zadibal as these constituencies are represented by ministers. “Only 25 kilometres have been macadamised in Khanyar, eight kilometres in Habba Kadal and 17 kilometres in Eidgah,” he said. Soon other NC MLAs from Srinagar also protested against the “unfair treatment” meted out to their constituencies.
Amid commotion in the House, MLA Khansahab Hakim Muhammad Yaseen demanded that government should inform the House about criteria being adopted for works approved under CRF, NABARD and other such schemes. “Those projects recommended by us are not being approved,” he said.
Shouting slogans “Discrimination Bandh Karo, Banderbant Bandh Karo”, the entire opposition stood up and staged protested for a few minutes. Later, they staged a walk-out.
Noisy scenes were again witnessed in the House when Akhter tried to explain his position. “The macadamisation is being carried out in proportion to road length in a constituency. You cannot compare Amira Kadal with Habba Kadal. The road length in former is 583 kilometres while in the latter it is just 28 kilometres,” he said.
As he was responding to the allegations, NC’s Sagar accused him of resorting to lies. “What non-sense you are talking? You should stop telling these lies,” Sagar said.
Angered by the opposition’s allegations, the minister hit back at them. “You are uncomfortable because I have built roads. What you did with the money you got during your time? You have to answer to the people. You cannot browbeat me,” Akhter said.
Targeting the NC leadership, Akhter said that its leadership has no moral courage to correct their MLAs. “You are resorting to white lies. You alleged that I have not macadamised a single kilometre in Beerwah constituency but 80 kilometres have been macadamised there,” he said.
Amid chaos in the House, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Abdul Rehman Veeri said the minister has right to explain his position. “He has explained his position. Why are you objecting to it?” he asked.