SRINAGAR: Three private members’ bills seeking prohibition of liquor in Jammu and Kashmir are among the first five bills listed for business in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, raising the possibility of their introduction and discussion during the ongoing autumn session.
The bills have been moved separately by PDP MLA Mir Mohammad Fayaz, BJP legislator Pawan Kumar Gupta and National Conference member and former minister Ali Mohammad Sagar. They were not taken up during the Assembly’s budget session held in Jammu from February to April.
The Legislative Assembly Secretariat has listed 35 private members’ bills for introduction in Thursday’s business. September 24 and September 28 have been designated for consideration of private members’ bills during the current session.
Fayaz’s bill proposes a prohibition on the advertisement, sale, purchase, consumption and manufacture of alcoholic drinks in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Gupta’s bill seeks an amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Excise Act to introduce prohibition in the Union Territory, while Sagar’s legislation proposes a complete ban on the sale and consumption of liquor in Jammu and Kashmir.
Another prohibition-related bill, moved by AIP MLA Sheikh Khursheed Ahmad, has been listed at serial number 28. It seeks a complete ban on the sale, consumption, storage and transportation of liquor in the Kashmir Valley, citing the region’s social, religious and security sensitivities.
PDP MLA Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra’s bill on the reorganisation of administrative divisions has also been listed for Thursday, at serial number 35. It proposes a statutory framework for the creation, reorganisation and rationalisation of administrative divisions, districts, sub-divisions and tehsils in Jammu and Kashmir, including the proposed Chenab and Pir Panjal divisions.
Among the other significant bills scheduled for introduction is legislation by BJP MLA Ranbir Singh Pathania seeking amendments to the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, as applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. The proposed changes include automatic revision of minimum wages based on Wholesale Price Index inflation and a mechanism for re-categorising workers according to skill levels.
BJP MLA and former minister Devinder Kumar Manyal has moved another bill seeking regularisation and permanent status for daily wagers, casual labourers and other similarly placed workers engaged in various departments of the Jammu and Kashmir Government since 1944. It also seeks job security, wage parity and social security benefits for such workers.
NC legislator Pirzada Farooq Ahmad Shah has proposed legislation to prohibit the manufacture and sale of polythene in the Kashmir Valley.
PDP MLA Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi has introduced a bill proposing the establishment of a Re-integration Commission in Jammu and Kashmir for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return and reintegration of Kashmiri migrants, particularly Kashmiri Pandits. The proposed commission would also facilitate reconciliation, social healing, cultural restoration and coexistence through institutional, community-based and rights-oriented mechanisms.
The first bill listed for Thursday has been moved by Sheikh Khursheed Ahmad and seeks to make it mandatory for public representatives and government servants to educate their children in government educational institutions.
NC legislator Syed Bashir Ahmad (Veeri) has proposed the next bill, which seeks to regulate and curb the destruction of Karewas through excavation of clay, sand, gravel and other material.
