Nutrition scheme 'fraud', row over placards rock MP Assembly; House adjourned for the day

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Assembly was adjourned for the day on Wednesday amid ruckus by the Opposition over alleged irregularities in implementation of a supplementary nutrition scheme and policemen allegedly stopping Congress legislators from bringing placards into the Vidhan Sabha complex.

The House was earlier adjourned twice during the Question Hour due to bedlam over the alleged irregularities in the nutrition programme and other issues.

At the beginning of the Question Hour, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sought permission from the Chair to make a statement on implementation of the supplementary nutrition scheme and clear the Opposition's "confusion" over the issue.

Speaker Girish Gautam gave permission to Chouhan to make the statement after the Question Hour.

However, Leader of Opposition Dr Govind Singh of the Congress said about 15 adjournment motions had been submitted on this issue and these should be discussed before the CM was allowed to make his statement.

Speaker declined to concede the Opposition demand.

Meanwhile, a tribal legislator of the Congress, Panchlal Medha, raised slogans claiming he was stopped by policemen at the entrance of the Vidhan Sabha complex and suffered injuries on his hand during a "scuffle" with them. Congress MLA Arif Masood, too, claimed he was stopped at the entry gate.

Once inside the Assembly, Medha, Masood and other Congress members entered the well of the House and raised slogans against the state government.

The Speaker, however, told them to submit an application about policemen allegedly stopping Congress MLAs at the entrance of the Assembly complex. Gautam termed the matter as serious and assured to get it investigated.

Amid the ruckus, Home Minister Narottam Mishra said Congress members were not stopped at the entrance, only not allowed to bring placards inside the Assembly to maintain decorum of the House.

Leader of Opposition Singh said MLAs were not bringing placards inside the House, but only on the Assembly campus.

The Speaker said this was not in accordance with the code of conduct of the House.

While Congress legislators continued their protest in the well of the House, the home minister rejected Medha's claim of suffering injuries.

Medha rushed towards Mishra to show his "injuries" and had a tiff with BJP legislator Umakant Sharma while allegedly trying to recreate scene of the "scuffle" with policemen, leading to a heated argument between the two.

Amid the pandemonium, the House was adjourned for five minutes.

When the House reconvened, Congress MLA Bala Bachchan demanded a discussion on the issue of policemen stopping Medha while he was entering the Assembly complex.

On the other hand, Mishra asked Medha to seek an apology from BJP legislator Sharma for his behaviour towards him.

At this point, the House was adjourned till 12 noon.

When the House convened again, CM Chouhan started reading out his statement on the supplementary nutrition scheme amid slogans by the Opposition whose members again reached the well of the House.

Chouhan said the Accountant General's audit report on the scheme was not final and assured action if irregularities have been committed in its implementation.

After the completion of Chouhan's statement and amid ruckus by Congress members, the Speaker completed the listed business and adjourned the House for the day.

Earlier this month, the Accountant General's (AG) audit report on the take home ration (THR) component of the supplementary nutrition programme 'poshan-aahar' kicked up a huge controversy with the Congress alleging corruption in its implementation.

The Opposition party, citing the report, said vehicles mentioned as trucks for transportation of 'take home ration' turned out to be motorcycles and cars.

The Madhya Pradesh government has denied irregularities in implementation of the scheme and said the AG's audit report on the programme was interim in nature and that the number of a vehicle mentioned in it was not registered on the transport department's “Vahan” portal.