RJD MLAs walks out of Bihar assembly

The opposition RJD MLAs on Monday created ruckus in the Bihar assembly before staging a noisy walk-out of the house to protest against Nitish Kumar government's alleged apathy towards addressing the grievances of the cane-growers following closure of the sugar mill at Bihra, on the outskirts of the state capital.

Raising the issue during the question-hour, Llader of ppposition in the House Abdul Bari Siddiqui alleged that the state government had decided to leased out the Bihta-based sick sugar mill to an infrastructure development firm instead
of a firm which had expertise in running such mills.

The state Sugarcane Industry Minister Awadhesh Prasad Kushwaha said the tenders for the said mill was issued twice since 1995 but as no no sugar firm came forward for it, the tender was awarded to the private P Logistics Infrastructure company for reopening of the mill.

Deputy chief minister S K Modi said the mill was closed when RJD led by Lalu Prasad was in power and the NDA after coming to power made relentless efforts for reopening of the mill.

Dissatisfied with the minister's reply, angry RJD MLAs
created a ruckus in the House and staged a noisy walk-out in
protest.

They alleged that the NDA government had been "overlooking" the interests of the cane-growers which reflected its "anti-farmer" stance.