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New states bills will be introduced next week, says Khurana

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madanlal Khurana today assured the Lok Sabha that the bills relating to creation of the new states of Vananchal, Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal will be introduced in the House next week.

Intervening during zero hour, Khurana said the matter would 'preferably' be discussed by the Cabinet later this week. He noted that the Bihar assembly had taken a contrary view on the creation of Vananchal, but this was not binding on Parliament.

The Udham Singh Nagar issue relating to Uttaranchal was under the scrutiny of a committee headed by Defence Minister George Fernandes, and the report was expected within a few days, the minister added.

The issue was raised by R T Chaudhri and Rita Verma (both Bharatiya Janata Party) who said 11 members had jointly given notice of this matter of urgent public importance and therefore the government must respond. She said the people were very agitated and failure to introduce the bill may lead to trouble in the area.

P M Sayeed, who was in the chair, said a total of 25 members had wanted to raise the issue. R L P Verma (BJP) also supported the issue even as some MPs from Bihar protested the issue.

UNI

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