Uttar Pradesh BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya arrives at Parliament in an even-numbered car on Monday. (Photo: Asian Age)
Uttar Pradesh BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya arrives at Parliament in an even-numbered car on Monday. (Photo: Asian Age)
MPs across party lines on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Delhi government’s odd-even car rationing scheme in Parliament, alleging that it will encourage corruption and was aimed at “insulting” them, even as in the same breath they sought exemption to attend the ongoing Budget Session.
They were mainly peeved as, according to sources, Lok Sabha secretary-general Anoop Mishra is learnt to have written to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, seeking exemption for the MPs. However, the Delhi chief minister did not heed the request.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, contended that the scheme would not help CNG companies and companies manufacturing buses and cars and would hardly reduce pollution.
He said Mr Kejriwal had introduced the scheme to gain “cheap popularity.”
Citing an IIT-Kanpur study, he said the pollution from cars was a mere five per cent and the Delhi government had failed to address other issues which contribute to the remaining 95 per cent of pollution.
While this was strongly contested by AAP member Bhagwant Mann, some BJP members were seen supporting Mr Ranjan’s plea.
In the Rajya Sabha, Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Agrawal made a strong pitch for exempting MPs from the scheme as has been done for some other sections, a view that found resonance among most of parties as well as deputy chairman of the House P.J. Kurien.
Attacking the Delhi government over the move, Mr Agrawal alleged it has done so to “insult” the MPs and wondered why the Centre was “silent” on the issue.
Ridiculing the AAP government over the scheme, which, he said, was an outcome of its penchant for new rules, the Samajwadi Party MP said the day was not far when rules will be framed to prescribe “A and B will walk on the road on a particular day and C and D some other day. Only women will use the road one day and the next day only men.” Congress member Rajiv Shukla also said the MPs should be “exempted” from the scheme.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress deputy leader Anand Sharma backed the views saying the scheme was coming in the way of discharging their duties.
Mr Kurien also supported the sentiments noting that the government’s duty was to help the MPs discharge their duty in Parliament and asked why did the Union parliamentary affairs minister not take up the matter with the Delhi government. “Or going by the suggestion of Mr Shukla, the MPs’ vehicles should be exempted from the scheme,” he said.
Congress leader Anand Sharma said the scheme was coming in the way of the MPs discharging their duties and not being able to attend the meetings of parliamentary committees due to it. Wondering how the scheme could be implemented when the Parliament was in session, Mr Sharma urged the Centre to take a call and insisted that “this issue needs to be addressed.”
His party college Rajiv Shukla said “the only solution is that MP-labelled cars should be exempted.”
JD(U)’s K.C. Tyagi, while supporting the demand for exemption of MPs’ vehicles, said that criticising the scheme or the Delhi government on this pretext was not correct as it had indeed brought down pollution and has been commended even by some foreign countries.
