As the second phase of the West Bengal Assembly’s Budget session is all set to commence on July 17, the home department’s budget is expected to be discussed in detail, marking the first such debate in the House in almost 15 years.
The second phase will commence on 17 July and continue till 25 July; the home department budget will be discussed on July 22 for nearly three hours.
During the previous Trinamool Congress government, the home department’s budget was almost always passed through the guillotine procedure. Under this procedure, the demands for grants that cannot be discussed individually due to lack of time, are usually clubbed together and approved without detailed debate.
As a result, legislators rarely had the opportunity to examine the home department’s expenditure or question the government on its functioning.
The only exception came in 2011, when the newly elected Trinamool Congress government allowed a discussion on the department’s budget following its assumption of office.
With the BJP government now in power, the Assembly will once again witness a full-fledged debate on the home department’s financial proposals. The move is being seen as a significant departure from the practice followed over the past decade and a half.
The discussion is expected to provide members of the House an opportunity to raise issues relating to law and order, policing, internal security, disaster management and other matters that fall under the home department’s jurisdiction.
Following the debate, the chief minister, who is also handling the portfolio of the home department, Adhikari is expected to reply to the issues and questions raised by members before the House votes on the department’s demands for grants, something which was not possible in the guillotine process.
Assembly officials said the second phase of the Budget session is expected to witness detailed deliberations on the financial proposals of all 13 departments before the House completes the budgetary approval process for the current financial year.