MUMBAI, July 7: The entire opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly staged a noisy walkout on Sunday. They were protesting against the contract awarded to BG Shirke & Company for constructing a transit camp of 10,000 tenements for slum-dwellers under the government's free housing scheme.

Opposition leader Madhukar Pichad said the contract was given to the firm without fixing the rate of construction and determining the conditions. He added that the deal "has given rise to suspicion of corruption".

Chief minister Manohar Joshi denied the graft charges and said the government would go ahead with the scheme without caring for opponents.

Earlier, RR Patil and Dilip Valse Patil (Congress) sought to know from housing minister Suresh Jain why the contract was given to Shirke company without inviting tenders. Enquiries were also sought on the conditions attached to the contract and the rate of construction fixed under it.

Jain said that a committee had been set up under the chairmanship of the housing minister to fix the construction rate and place for the proposed camp and assured the House that it would fix the rate within eight to 10 days.

Later in the day, the entire opposition staged a walkout amidst uproarious scenes when speaker Datta Nalavade rejected an adjournment motion tabled by Digvijay Khanvilkar (Congress) on recent police atrocities on legislators and lathicharge on anti-Enron demonstrators led by activist Medha Patkar.

Khanvilkar alleged that the police, on Shiv Sena's behest, resorted to lathicharge on the demonstrators led by Congress MLA Anees Ahmed at Nagpur during the recent cabinet meeting. Ahmed was brutally beaten. In another incident, Congress MLA Ashok Mohol was attacked by Sena members. He urged the speaker to hold talks on all the issues, treating them as "serious". Opposition members stood on their feet and shouted slogans in favour of their demands. They entered the well and rushed to the podium flaunting banners against the government. The Speaker maintained that the minister concerned would be directed to make a statement on the issues mentioned in the notice of adjournment motion on Tuesday. Enraged members were, however, dissatisfied with the Speaker's ruling and walked out of the house.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.