BHOPAL: Minister for gas relief Vishwas Sarang and MLA Arif Aqueel were locked in a bitter war of words over facilities to gas victims, in Vidhan Sabha, on Wednesday. Answering to a question regarding reservations for gas victims in recruitment to Rail Coach Factory at Bhopal, the minister said the railways had scrapped the reservations in 1995. Sarang said his department was corresponding with the railways on the issue. He said Aqueel was minister for gas relief when the reservations were scrapped but he did not do anything. Sarang said the Congress government had given the demeaning nomenclature of ‘Vidhwa Colony’ to the residential premises of the widows of the gas tragedy. The BJP government had renamed it ‘Jeevan Jyoti Colony’, he added.
Uproar over crop insurance
The House witnessed uproar over a question of MLA Shailendra Patel on crop insurance scheme. Other MLAs joined Patel in claiming that the farmers were not getting any benefit from the scheme. Agriculture minister Gaurishankar Bisen said a day-long workshop should be conducted on the complexities of the scheme. Bisen said farmers should inform about crop loss within 15 days or else the insurance company would not be responsible for paying the claim. Speaker Sitasharan Sharma consented to organise a workshop.
