Monsoon Session Of Odisha Assembly To Function In Line With Parliament: Speaker

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly Speaker, Surjya Narayan Patro, on Tuesday said the functioning of the monsoon session of the House will be line with Parliament.

The Speaker said except the question hour, the Assembly will conduct the remaining businesses like zero hour, adjournment motion and calling attention motion.

Patro also stated that the session will be conducted with strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. As part of this, sitting arrangements have been made for 145 legislators who will have to maintain a distance of at least 4 feet from each other. Apart from the original sitting places for the legislators, arrangements have been made for them in the visitors’ gallery, he added.

He further said that like in Parliament, a glass shield will be fitted in front of the seat of each legislator in the Assembly.

On attendance, the Speaker said senior legislators unwilling to attend the session will have to inform the Assembly in advance and they can participate in the House proceedings through video conferencing either in their homes, the district headquarters office, or at the conference hall of the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC).

The Speaker also informed that one team of each media house will be allowed to cover the House proceedings.