Bhopal, Mar 4:
The firing in JP cement factory, Rewa, promotion to employees working in office of development commissioner on the basis of fake certificates and violation of rules in the recruitment of panchayat personnel dominated major part of discussions in the state assembly here on Tuesday.
The whole House got drowned in the noise of opposition parties when the Congress MLA and former state minister Sajjan Singh Verma sought a reply from state home minister, Himmat Kothari in connection with firing at JP Cement factory in Rewa on September 22, 2007 which claimed the life of one person. Verma questioned the minister as to why the government had not been able to arrest the accused despite registration of the case under section 245/07, section 147, 148, 149, 307 and 302 of the IPC against them.
Replying to his question, Kothari while confirming the killing of a person at the JP cement factory in Rewa, said the investigation into the case was on. He said the police had so far not arrested any accused identified as Ajay Singh Rana, Ramesh Gupta, Rawat and Shivshankar, for lack of contradictory statements given by the witnesses.
Not satisfied with his reply, CPM MLA Ramlakhan Sharma jumped into the discussion and demanded an immediate arrest of the accused. He alleged that state government was deliberately protecting the accused notwithstanding the fact that police opened fire on the mob in the presence of cement company officials. Putting the government on the mat for going slow in the whole case, the CPM MLA also questioned the logic behind initiating a judicial probe into the matter, one month after the incident. He further asked the government to initiate a CBI inquiry into the matter.
Alleging deterioration in the law and order position in the state during the regime of the BJP, Sajjan Singh Verma also demanded immediate arrest of the accused.
Home minister Kothari trying to sooth the frayed temper of opposition MLAs over the matter, said that an inquiry had already been initiated into the matter to bring fact to the fore. He denied the government was trying to defend the accused. Not satisfied with his reply, the whole opposition including the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, CPM, the Gondwana Gantantra Party and the BSP staged a walk-out over the matter.
The House witnessed heated arguments over the issue of promotion of employees in the office of development commissioner. Subscribing to the complaint raised by an MLA Umashankar Gupta, the state panchayat minister, Rustam Singh said the matter had been referred by the office of development commissioner to Chindwara collector on February 8, 2008 for its verification.
Violation of reservation rules in the appointment of panchayat personnel also generated huge debate in the assembly. Raising the question, MLA I M P Verma alleged violation of recruitment rules in the appointment of panchayat personnel in Rewa district between 2004 and 2008. Verma said that as per the 86-1 and 86-2 of the Panchayat Act, womenfolk and the members of the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribes should be given priority in appointment but no such norms were followed in Rewa and general category candidates were given appointments in the panchayat bodies. Though state panchayat minister, Rustam Singh denied any violation of recruitment rules, opposition was not satisfied with his reply.
Krishna K Jha
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