Porvorim:The opposition benches in Goa Legislative Assembly stalled Question Hour on Tuesday after a ruling minister sought to postpone question on the allocation of Coal Block given to Goa in Madhya Pradesh.
Speaker Rajesh Patnekar had to adjourn the session twice after MLAs Rohan Khaunte (Independent) and Vijai Sardesai (Goa Forward Party) rushed to the well of the House.
Khaunte had tabled a Question on the floor of the House on the allocation of Coal Block, which is given to Goa. The Block is in Madhya Pradesh.
State Industries Minister Vishwajit Rane provided a written reply but sought the postponement of the Question seeking more time to answer it in detail.
This triggered noisy scenes on the floor of the House with Khaunte questioning the minister as to under which rule he could postpone the Question which was tabled.
Khaunte alleged that the state government was attempting to hide Rs 1,000 crore Coal Block scam by escaping from answering the Question.
Joining Khaunte, Sardesai said that there is no rule allowing the postponement of the question once reply is tabled. He said that the state government was involved in large scale corruption through the allocation of this Block.
Speaker pointed out that the minister has a right to postpone the Question in the “Public Interest.”
The opposition benches were not happy with the reply and insisted to know what “public interest” was involved in postponing the Question.
Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat and MGP MLA Sudin Dhavalikar also joined the protests.
Initially, the Speaker postponed the session by 15 minutes but since the opposition continued their protests, he further postponed it till the end of Question Hour, that is 12.30 pm.
