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17 days
of parliament deadlock costs nation Rs.132 crore
Monday December 06, 2010 07:17:19 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi:
The non-functioning of parliament is proving very costly for the
nation. With the expenditure for each day lost estimated at Rs.7.8
crore, the cumulative loss works out to Rs.132.6 crore ($30
million) for the 17 consecutive days parliament has not been able
to transact any business so far.
Barring the first day of the ongoing winter session that began Nov
9, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have not functioned normally
for a single day since then.
The two houses were adjourned Monday for the 17th consecutive day
over the opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)
to probe the allotment of second-generation (2G) telecom bandwidth
to mobile companies in 2008, and the government equally determined
not to set up such a panel. The government maintains a Public
Accounts Committee of the parliament, headed by an opposition MP,
is already looking into the issue.
Amidst the din, the government took up and passed the demands for
grants (general) and demands for grants (railways) in the two
houses last week.
According to official figures, the total budget of the two houses
of parliament and the ministry of parliamentary affairs for
2010-11 is nearly Rs.535 crore.
In a year, the parliament meets thrice - the budget, monsoon and
winter sessions. In the past five years (2005-2009), there have
been an average of 68 sittings per year. That means, the
expenditure for each day of a session is nearly Rs.7.8 crore.
Since the parliament's establishment, including the Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha secretariats, works round the year the expenditure per
day has to be worked out according to the number of sittings as
the entire staff, logistics and other expenses are incurred for
the institution to conduct its legislative business.
The Parliament Library's reference section adopts a different
model of calculating per day expenditure. On the basis of 245
working days in a year, it calculates the expenditure of the two
houses at Rs.2.12 crore per day, of which the Lok Sabha accounts
for Rs.1.42 crore.
Both the Congress and the opposition are putting the blame on each
other for the stalemate and the consequent loss of time and money.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Basudeb Acharia,
blaming the government, told IANS: "We are for normal functioning
of parliament and for debate and discussion. If the government had
agreed to the demand for JPC on the first day, parliament would
have functioned properly. The stalemate is due to the government.
Why is it not conceding the demand for a JPC. There have been four
JPCs in the past 19 years. It (2G allocation) is such a big scam."
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said
JPC was the only instrument to look into the multi-dimensional 2G
scam.
"Somebody has to answer for the scandal. It can only be done
through a JPC. If necessary, ministers have to be summoned. How do
you pin the people responsible for giving the clearances," she
said.
The government has ruled out a JPC.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said a Public
Accounts Committee (PAC) was already looking into the 2G spectrum
controversy.
He also trained his guns at the opposition lawmakers, saying that
while Congress MPs had decided to forego daily sitting allowance
of Rs.2,000, the opposition MPs were claiming the amount though
"they were not ready to let the house function".
Bansal said before the start of the winter session last month, the
opposition parties had given a list of over 20 issues but were not
willing to talk on even a single issue now.
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