For an hour and a half on Monday, the Himachal Pradesh Assembly was taken over by young children participating in a mock Assembly session. The one-day MLAs were selected by the State Education Department out of 1,085 applications across Himachal Pradesh. For the first time, the state was led by a woman chief minister- the post was held by a girl named Jahaanvi during the make-believe session.
The Vidhan Sabha’s “Baal Satra” or children’s session took up the issue of drug peddling in the state and witnessed “Opposition MLAs” trooping into the Well of the House to demand action against drug traffickers. The “Opposition” stated that the drug situation in the state had become so grave that parents were scared to even send their children out of their homes. The MLAs also accused the “State” of arresting a few peddlers in the name of curbing the issue. “We are aware of the concern of the opposition leaders. My reply might seem like a formality to the leader of the opposition, but my government is sensitive to the problems of the people,” said CM Jahaanvi, directing the Home Minister to take strict action on the matter., Deputy Chief Minister Tushar Anand also informed the house that there are 91 ‘Nasha Mukti Kenderiya’ (de-addiction centres) in the state. He said most of these centres are set up in the bordering districts of Solan, Una and Kangra as drugs- especially “chitta”- are smuggled through these areas to the capital district of Shimla.
The MLAs raised several questions on other subjects as well, like career counselling of youth, environment protection, health and sports facilities, water issues, the financial health of the state, bad condition of temple roads, paper leaks and shortage of parking space during the question hour.
