Dehradun: The digital budget session of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly has begun. The Governor’s address took place on the first day of the budget session. After the end of the address, the proceedings of the Assembly started at 3 pm. Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri read out the Governor’s address. After that, the proceedings of the budget session of the Assembly were adjourned till 11 am on Wednesday.
Earlier, Uttarakhand Governor Lieutenant General Gurmeet Singh reached the Assembly where he was welcomed with a guard of honour at the entrance of the Assembly. On this occasion, Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, besides Parliamentary Affairs Minister Premchand Aggarwal were present.
Budget session of the Assembly begins
Today is the first day of the budget session of the Assembly. It started with the Governor’s address. As soon as the Governor’s address started, Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya on behalf of the opposition has demanded to extend the duration of the budget session. Before the start of the House, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami made a courtesy call on the Speaker of the Assembly Ritu Khanduri Bhushan in the Assembly. Cabinet Minister Premchand Agarwal, MLA Khajan Das and Parvati Das were also present on this occasion.
Governor’s address
The Governor’s address to the House started on the first day of the budget session. The Governor said that Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to implement the Uniform Civil Code. In this, women’s interests have been protected primarily.
Congress MLAs’ uproar
On one hand, the Governor’s address was going on, on the other hand, the opposition MLAs started a ruckus. The opposition MLAs reached the well and started creating a ruckus. Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya protested against not extending the duration of the session. In the House, the ruling party MLAs thumped the tables on the achievements of the government. On the other hand, a debate started between Congress MLA Madan Bisht and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Premchand Agarwal.
Question raised on session duration
Congress MLA from Dharchula Harish Dhami has also raised questions about the session duration. Harish Dhami says that unless the MLA gets a chance to put forward his point, his role in the session will remain inactive, so the time period should be increased and whatever issues are of public interest should be discussed publicly. Therefore, the government should increase the duration of the session and have a full discussion on all the subjects.
Lansdowne MLA reached the assembly
Meanwhile, BJP MLA from Lansdowne Dalip Singh Rawat, who boycotted the assembly session recently, has reached the assembly today on the day of the session. Regarding this, he has said that today is the Governor’s address and he does not want to disrespect the Governor’s address. Along with this, he has said that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Premchand Aggarwal have assured him that the Forest Act will be discussed for three to four hours during the House. He further said that if this issue is not discussed, he will boycott from tomorrow.
This budget session is digital
Let us tell you that this session is going to be special because for the first time the Uttarakhand government is conducting the budget session under e-NeVA (National e-Vidhan Application- NeVA). Before the start of the session, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated the e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) in the Vidhan Sabha Bhawan. All the work of the Vidhan Sabha can now be digitalized. Under the e-Vidhan Sabha system, from the Governor’s address to the questions asked by the MLAs, the agenda to the MLAs and all other documents will be available online. In the direction of paperless assembly, tabs have been installed in front of the tables of all the honorables. The budget will also be shown in this tab.
At the same time, all the MLAs have put a total of 521 questions in this session. Along with this, many important bills will also be introduced in this session. After the discussion on the Governor’s address on Wednesday, February 19, the budget of income and expenditure for the financial year 2025-26 will be presented on Thursday, February 20 at 12:30 pm.
Main points of Governor’s speech
- Governor mentioned Uniform Civil Code in his speech
- Uttarakhand became the first state in the country to implement UCC
- Governor also spoke on anti-riot law, affected property will be recovered from rioters
- Governor praised the National Games held in Uttarakhand in his speech
- No mention of Gairsain in Governor’s speech
- No mention of Chardham Yatra in Governor’s speech
- Mention of formation of Setu Commission in his speech
- Mention of Global Uttarakhand Investor Summit in his speech
- Mention of International Migrant Uttarakhand Conference in his speech
- Mention of World Ayurveda Congress and International Expo in his speech
- Mention of Horizontal Reservation of Agitators in his speech
- Mention of reconstruction and tourism possibilities of Jadung village of Uttarkashi under Vibrant Village Scheme
- Mention of plan to develop 13 new heliports in the state
