GUWAHATI: A statewide bandh call costs the state exchequer in Assam Rs 6790 lakhs per day and 13 such bandhs have hit the state during the first nine months of this year.
State’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, informed the state Legislative Assembly about it here on Monday, in response to a starred question raised by BJP legislator Mrinal Saikia.
Patowary said 13 statewide bandhs had been called in 2018 so far, besides 16 local-level bandhs. As per Directorate of Economics and Statistics, per day bandh leads to a loss of Rs 6790 lakh.
The minister further informed that the state government had already framed a draft bill to ban bandhs in the state. The draft bill, The Assam Prohibition and Prevention of Bandh Bill, 2017, is under consideration of the state government.
Patowary said the Gauhati High Court had taken up a PIL by one Arun Pathak in 2012, seeking a ban on Assam bandhs, and the court had asked the state government to expedite the process of framing the law in this regard when it had closed the PIL in March this year.