Patna, March 1: The police firing at Forbesganj in Araria that killed four youths from the minority community in June last year, sparked a war of words between the ruling party and the Opposition members at the Legislative Council today.

Raising the issue through a short-notice question, RJD legislator Mohammed Tanvir Hussain, tried to put the state government on the backfoot on the plea that the one-member inquiry committee, which was formed by the state government six months back to probe the incident, was yet to submit the report.

Answering the question, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, the water resources minister said the inquiry panel, which timed out on December 2011, has again been given a year’s extension according to a notification issued on January 17 and the committee still exists.

The minister stated that in the initial period of investigation, the inquiry committee had visited Araria and on July 29/30 last year, it had visited the spot and talked with the local people.

Choudhary said: “After a public notice was issued in vernacular newspapers, the committee had received written statements from 183 persons directly and six written statements through post. The statements will be recorded as per the direction issued by the inquiry committee.”

On the other hand, chief minister Nitish Kumar today directed animal husbandry department minister Giriraj Singh to make a complete study on the status of gaushala (cowshed) lands and take immediate steps to free them of encroachment.

Cutting across party lines, the MLAs present said the cowshed in their respective districts, were defunct and the lands had been encroached. Giriraj declared that the cowsheds were being run by trusts in which the government had no control and the local sub-divisional official is ex-officio chairman of the trust. Nitish asked the minister to hold a meeting of the SDOs and announce a plan to free the cowsheds of encroachment.