Congress MP opposes move to 'dismantle' Planning Commission

NEW DELHI: A Congress member today asked the government to desist from any move to "dismantle" the Planning Commission and sought steps to strengthen it.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the Planning Commission is an important independent institution which has been guiding the development of various states.

"If there is any deficiency, that should be mended and not ended. You should not dismantle it but rejuvenate it," he said.

His party colleague T Meinya asked the government to immediately table M P Bezbaruah Committee Report and take steps to stop attacks on the people of the northeast staying in other parts of the country and put an end to "racial profiling".

He said people from the northeast were being "targetted and attacked" in Delhi and other metros and there have been five such incidents in the recent past one after another.

Bhratruhari Mahtab (BJD) urged the government to celebrate the birth anniversary of Raja Mahendra Pratap, a stalwart of the Indian freedom movement who had established the first Indian government-in-exile in 1915 in Kabul.

Mahendra Pratap had donated everything he owned to the cause of the people and the freedom movement, including land, for establishing the Aligarh Muslim University, he said. While AMU should establish a Chair in his name, the government should also promote research on his activities in the freedom struggle.

Shashi Tharoor (Cong) wanted the government to establish a railway medical college and hospital in Thiruvananthapuram for which land has already been identified through public-private partnership mode.

TRS member A Sitaram Naik raised the issue seven mandals in Telangana which were located in Andhra Pradesh, but two MLAs and two MPs representing them belonged to Telangana.

He demanded an urgent solution to the problem to provide representation of the people, mostly tribals, living in these mandals.