Take action on Ramdev pasta, noodles: Tyagi

Describing Nestle and Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali as “Dabangs”, JD(U)’s K.C. Tyagi on Thursday demanded action against Patanjali pharma company for allegedly selling products like noodles and pasta without the food regulator’s approval and wondered why no appeal was filed in the Supreme Court against the Bombay high court order lifting restrictions on the sale of Maggi.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Tyagi said “He (Baba Ramdev) poses as if he is very close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He openly claims that he has helped with ‘tan, man and dhan’ (physically, mentally and monetarily) in formation of the BJP government.” On the Bombay high court’s verdict in the Maggi case, the JD(U) member sought to know why no appeal had been filed against it.

TMC’s Nadimul Haque questioned the government over the delay in appointment of the chief information commissioner for more than a year, leading to a huge build-up of pending cases. He said due to non-appointment of the CIC, the pendency of appeals and complaints was over 33,000 now. The post of CIC is lying vacant since August 2014, when Rajiv Mathur retired.

He also recalled that Mr Modi had, at the 10th anniversary of Central Information Commission, stated that RTI applications should be replied to in a transparent, timely and trouble-free manner.

AIADMK’s Vijila Sathyananth demanded lifting of the ban on Jallikattu saying the popular bull fight should be allowed with adequate safeguards in place. Even DMK member T. Shiva, joined her in the demand.

In a separate mention, Congress’s Rajani Patil raised the issue of women’s entry being banned in Shani temple in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, Sabrimala temple in Kerala installing machines to detect women going through menstrual periods and a petition against the Haji Ali dargarh in Mumbai for banning women. Many other members, cutting across party lines, associated with the Congress member in her demand that these practises should be discontinued.