The Special Session of Jharkhand Assembly was held at new sprawling building of Assembly inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. The lawmakers attending the last session of the fourth Jharkhand Assembly had a pleasant experience. Some termed the shifting to new Assembly premises at Kute village—3 km from old premises as milestone, while others listed out shortcomings in new premises. Built at a cost of Rs 465 crore, the Assembly has 57,220 square metre of built up area. The 37-metre-tall dome has been the highlight of the spectacular edifice.
State parliamentary affairs minister Neelkanth Singh Munda speaking on the occasion said, “For last 19 years, the Jharkhand Assembly was running from its transit campus at Lenin Hall of HEC. Jharkhand getting new Assembly is a historic event.” As the JMM lawmakers had boycotted the special session of Assembly, Munda said, “If the JMM lawmakers had attended the special session it would have been more pleasant. Everything should not be looked through the eyes of politics.”
Congress legislative party leader in Assembly Alamgir Alam said, “The years of dream of having its own Jharkhand Assembly building has been fulfilled. We expect that from new building the lawmakers will raise issue of Goan, Garib, Tola so that they get justice.”
Minister of Food and Supply Department and one of the oldest MLA in Jharkhand, Saryu Roy termed the shifting of Jharkhand assembly to new building as historic. He said, “The Jharkhand Assembly new building is marvelous. The Assembly replicates the rich art and culture of State. However, there are some shortcomings and we hope that these will shorted out soon. The sound system of new assembly is not perfect as the voice echo. We hope that all these minor faults will be sorted out.” Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (P) MLA from Poreyahat, Pradeep Yadav speaking on the occasion demanded that Chief Minister and Assembly speaker, Dinesh Oraon to make the day more special by making announcement on relaxation of fines in new motor vehicle act, announcement of 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Caste (OBC) in State and waiver in electricity bill especially those living in rural areas.
Marxist Co-ordination Committee (MCC) leader and Nirsa MLA, Arup Chatterjee on the occasion made a demand for declaring Lenin Hall as memorial as Jharkhand assembly as the old Russian hostel served as Assembly for nineteen years.
Independent MLA from Bhawanthpur, Bhanu Pratap Shahi on the occasion urged the Speaker to increase the number of Assembly seats in Jharkhand from 81 to 150. Rebel JMM MLA from Mandu, Jai Prakash Bhai Patel said: “It is proud moment for entire Jharkhand. Being MLAs, I got the chance to visit several state assemblies, on seeing other state assemblies we always regretted that even after nineteen years we have not got our own Assembly building.”
Hatia MLA Naveen Jaisawal said, “For me it is proud moment as Jharkhand new assembly building is located in my constituency.” On the occasion several other MLAs including Radha Krishan Kishore, Kushwaha Shivpujan Mehta and Raj Kumar Yadav spoke on the occasion.
