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Move to introduce Ports Bill sparks uproar in RS; Sinha says Opposition won't be ignored

The Rajya Sabha today witnessed heated exchanges over the government move to introduce the Major Port Trusts (Amendment) Bill 1998, seeking to allow private sector investment in major ports of the country and had to be recessed for 15 minutes.

Congress and other Opposition members opposed Shipping and Transport Minister M Thambidurai's move to introduce the bill, saying it would lead to retrenchment of millions of port workers in the country.

Jibon Roy of the Communist Party of India-Marxist said the government should have first discussed the issue with workers' unions before introducing the bill which is not mentioned in the party's national agenda of governance. He was supported by Vayalar Ravi of the Congress who said the bill would adversely affect port workers.

Vijay Raghavan of the CPI-M said the chair should allow for a division on this bill's admisibility in the House.

Adik Shirodkar who was in the chair however disallowed all such objections. This caused much tension.

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha however tried to pacify the entire Opposition by saying that the government has no intention of ignoring the Opposition views or their feelings.

UNI

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