Oppn boycotts Legislative Council on EGS issue

Mumbai, Mar 19 (UNI) The Opposition in the Legislative Council today boycotted the proceedings in the House to protest against the passage of the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) bill.

The bill was passed by the Lower House on Monday and by the Upper House yesterday without a discussion on the issue.

The Opposition members raised slogans against the government and also against Finance Minister Jayant Patil who had arrived in the Vidan Bhavan to present the state's budget.

Meanwhile, a press release jointly signed by Leader of the Opposition Pandurang Phundkar, Nitin Gadkari (BJP), Diwakar Raote, and Madhukarrao Sarpotdar (Shiv Sena) said the government had passed the bill despite the fact that it was pending before the joint select committee whose report was still awaited.

The release alleged that the state government wanted to divert money collected from the salaried people for labourers working on EGS to other schemes.

UNI JN/JM MAZ VKG1412