Assembly winter session ends ahead of schedule

Bhubaneswar: The winter session of Odisha Assembly was adjourned sine die on Wednesday, ahead of its scheduled conclusion. Speaker Surama Padhy adjourned the House sine die for an indefinite period.

The session, which began on November 26, was scheduled to continue till December 31. However, it ended with just 12 working days. During the remaining period, there are a few holidays. The BJP MLA, Ashok Mohanty, said the House was adjourned sine die since there was no official work left.

The BJD legislator, Pradip Disari, however, claimed: “The BJP government closed the House out of fear. They ran away from the Assembly fearing the opposition.” During the session, the House passed a total of three bills, including the Appropriation Bill.

The session had begun on a stormy note on the very first day with the Opposition members creating a ruckus over absence of ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the preamble of the Indian Constitution displayed in the Assembly complex on the occasion of the Constitution Day.

The issues of shortage of potatoes and Polavaram dam were also raised by the Opposition Congress and BJD several times. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s statement on the alleged sale of government jobs during the previous BJD administration created a ruckusin the House

On Tuesday, the House witnessed noisy scenes with the Opposition protesting against alleged non-payment of salaries to around 60,000 women supporting staffers under the ‘Mission Shakti’ scheme.On the last day of the session, issues like the Centre’s move to delink the Waltair division from the East Coast Railway Zone also led to a war of words between the members of treasury bench and Opposition MLAs.

Senior BJD member Ranendra Pratap Swain, however, objected to closing of the session before a discussion on the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which was introduced in the House.