LS Speaker gives his one month salary for Assam flood relief

Guwahati, Sep 11 (UNI) Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chaterjee today donated his one month salary for the flood relief operations in Assam.

Congress MP from Assam Kirip Chaliha told UNI over phone from New Delhi that the Lok Sabha Speaker gave him this information. Mr Chaliha had called on Mr Chatterjee, urging him to make an appeal to all Lok Sabha MPs to contribute generously for the flood relief operations in Assam.

''Mr Chatterjee readily agreed to my suggestion and said there was some misunderstanding about his previous appeal for the flood relief in Bihar which had angered the Assam MPs,'' Mr Chaliha said.

He said the Speaker would issue a fresh appeal to all the MPs to allay any misgivings about his earlier appeal for Bihar.

The Speaker had appealed to all the MPs to give Rs 25 lakh from the MP Local Area development fund for the Bihar flood relief works.

''The appeal was made immediately after the breach in the Kosi river following which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar approached the Speaker with the request as the damage was extensive to be handled by Bihar alone,'' Mr. Chaliha said.

MPs from Assam had refused to donate funds for the Bihar unless the collected money was equally divided between Bihar and Assam.

Cutting across party lines, Congress, BJP and AGP had refused to respond to the Speaker's appeal unless the collected funds were divided between Assam and Bihar.

Meanwhile, Mr Chaliha is scheduled to meet Vice-President Hamid Ansari this afternoon with a similar cause.

UNI MT DPM SK UCS1456