Alleged shifting of Tea Board headquarters from Kolkata to Guwahati and a demand for setting up a High Court in Andhra Pradesh were among the issues raised by members in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Vivek Gupta (TMC) raised the issue of the alleged move to shift Tea Board headquarters to Guwahati after the BJP came to power in Assam, likening the move to "chopping off the hands" of Kolkata.
The Centre, he alleged, has not been consulting the state government on the appointment of chairman of Kolkata Port Trust and Damodar Valley Corporation and was now shifting the Tea Board headquarters.
Kolkata has not just a sea port for movement of tea but also a tea auction house, he said, adding that any move to shift the headquarters would result in job losses.
Shadi Lal Batra (Cong) raised the issue of Rs 50,000 crore ponzy scheme fraud by PACL and demanded that the company's directors and chairman be arrested and their properties seized and sold to refund money to 6 crore poor farmers, shopkeepers, retired officials and widows who, he alleged, have been defrauded.
Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu (Cong) said with the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the High Court at Hyderabad has gone to Telengana state. Andhra Pradesh is now eagerly awaiting its own High Court, he said, adding that the court complex in Vijawada be allocated for setting up of the High Court.
Ripun Bora (Cong) raised the issue of floods in Assam and highlighted the devastation it has done in the state. He also complained that Home Minister Rajnant Singh had spent "only two hours" in the state and did not announce any package. Singh had visited the state to assess the damage caused by floods. Bora alleged that neither the Centre, nor the State government were serious in their efforts to deal with the problem caused by floods.
Rewati Raman Singh (SP) said while toilets have been constructed in rural India as part of Swachh Bharat campaign, but an estimated 50 lakh of them were not being used.