East Delhi collapse not on agenda of Delhi Assembly

“By and large,we had received 64 notices for short duration discussion for the session and out of them we have selected five issues for short discussion discussion,” said Speaker Yoganand Shastri,who also presides over BAC.

Asked why the issue did not figure,a senior Congress member in the nine-member BAC said no BJP legislator issued any notice for a discussion on the collapse. He,however,did not say whether any Congress MLA wanted discussion on the issue.

Terming the non-inclusion of the building collapse issue as unfortunate,senior BJP leaser Harsvardhan said in the bargaining between ruling and BJP members in BAC,the issue must have got neglected.

“It is very unfortunate. I hope the issue will be brought to the House through other mechanism,” he said.

Asked why the principal Opposition party did not insist for a discussion on the collapse,Delhi BJP chief Vijendra Gupta only said the party’s main focus will be on corruption in the Commonwealth Games preparations.

“The session will have only six sittings and we have plenty of issues to discuss. Certainly the building collapse is an important issue but our focus will be on corruption,” he said.

Seventy people had lost their lives in the Lalita Park building collapse last Monday night. Over 60 families,mostly labourers from West Bengal,were living in the cramped quarters of the 15-year-old building where two floors were constructed illegally.

Following the incident,the Delhi government had blamed BJP-ruled MCD for the incident while MCD had pointed fingers at the government.

Shastri said the House will pay homage to the victims of the incident and added that the issue may be raised under Rule 280 that entitles members of the House raise matter of “urgent public interest.”

He said he has received 545 notices for questions.

Shastri said the Court Fee (Delhi Amendment) Bill,2010 will be introduced in the session.

Officials said the bill seeks to refund portion of the court fee to petitioners if the warring parties go for an out-of-court settlement to their dispute.