Demand in Rajya Sabha for Allahabad High Court bench in Western UP

NEW DELHI: A demand was made in the Rajya Sabha to set up a bench of Allahabad High Court in Western Uttar Pradesh.

Making the demand, K C Tyagi (JD-U) noted that the distance of Allahabad from some of areas of Western UP is up to 700 km and reminded the government that earlier the people of Telangana had also demanded a bench of High Court.

"You did not give a high court bench but gave an entire state," he said.

Tyagi said that if the demand for the High Court bench was not considered, there will be turmoil in Western UP.

Sabir Ali (JD-U) was critical of the functioning of Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC).

Speaking amid din, Ali said there was no check on the finances of ONGC and alleged that the bigwigs were protecting the top bosses of the ONGC, which invested Rs 2.1 billion in buying and "has not earned a single rupee" from it.

Birendra Prasad Baishya (AGP) raised the issue of dengue in Assam and demanded attention from the Centre on a par with what was done when the disease had spread in Delhi.

Flagging the shortage of equipments and medical facilities in Guwahati, Baishya said Government should send a special team there. "Don't discriminate against Assam. Give the same facilities to Assam, which you give to Delhi," he said.

Members from all parties supported him. Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP) in his Zero Hour mention demanded inclusion of Pali language in the list of permitted regional languages in UPSC.

He said that the representation of Hindi regions has come down due to new norms in the UPSC.