Odisha Assembly Adjourned Sine Die 18 Days Ahead Of Schedule Amid Protests

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly was adjourned sine die on Wednesday after running for just 12 of 30 working days.

The winter session commenced on November 26 and was scheduled to continue till December 31. While 20 days were allocated for official business, five days were reserved for private members’ business.

It had begun on a stormy note on the very first day with the Opposition members creating ruckus over deletion of ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ words from the preamble of the Indian Constitution displayed in the Assembly complex on the occasion of the Constitution Day. Shortage of potato rocked the House on December 2. There were noisy scenes over the Polavaram dam project being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh government after Speaker Surama Padhy rejected the demand of the Opposition Congress and BJD for a discussion in the House on December 6. A day later, opposition BJD members created a ruckus protesting against Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s allegation that ASO jobs were being sold during the previous Naveen Patnaik regime.

On Tuesday, the pandemonium persisted with the Opposition holding protests inside the House over alleged non-payment of salaries to around 60,000 women supporting staffers under the ‘Mission Shakti’ scheme.

During this session, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented Rs 12,156 crore supplementary budget for the 2024-25 financial year. Altogether 12 Bills, including two private member Bills, were tabled in the Assembly during the truncated winter session.