Uttarakhand: Congress protests change in venue of budget session

DEHRADUN: The budget session of the Uttarakhand assembly was earlier scheduled to be held in the state's summer capital Gairsain from June 7. However, the venue was changed to Dehradun and the session started on June 14.
Expressing annoyance over the issue, Congress legislators staged a protest outside the assembly hall on Tuesday and also raised the issue inside the House.The two major reasons behind shifting the venue were the ongoing Char Dham yatra and the shortage of resources, according to officials.
Congress leader and six-time MLA from Chakrata, Pritam Singh, said, “The Char Dham yatra is held each year. Does that mean the BJP government would not hold any assembly session in the summer capital during the summer season?” He claimed that the decision has deeply hurtful to the people living in the hills.
"What is the point of making Gairsain the summer capital when the government is not ready to go there. The CM himself had declared that the assembly session would be held at Gairsain. Why did the government backtrack on its initial plan,” questioned Singh. Echoing a similar opinion, leader of opposition, Yashpal Arya, said that the “feelings of people of Uttarakhand were completely ignored by the BJP government. Better planning on part of the government and the administration could have easily ensured the session at Gairsain.”
Meanwhile, parliamentary affairs minister Prem Chand Aggarwal said that Congress is trying to “unnecessarily” hype the issue for seeking the limelight. “In the meetings held earlier, the Congress did not have any problem with a session in Dehradun. So, why are they raising this issue now” Aggarwal said in response.