Odisha Assembly To Run 6 Days A Week; BJP & Congress Chart Strategy To Corner Govt

Bhubaneswar: The monsoon session of the Odisha Assembly, scheduled from September 1, will have six working days a week, Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro informed on Friday.

Briefing the media after presiding over an all-party meeting, he said the Assembly proceedings will continue on Saturday during which there will be two sessions from 11 am to 1.30 pm and from 4 pm to 6 pm. On the remaining days, except for Sunday, the House will run for five hours with two sittings (from 10.30 am-1.30 pm and 4 pm-6 pm).

The session will have eight business days and continue till September 9.

Unlike previous Assembly sessions, the House will have question hour this time, he said. “Starred questions will be taken up during the House proceedings. Adjournment motions will be allowed during the session,” he said.

The BJP will be given four days and the Congress two days to put their questions. The members not willing to participate in the question hour in the Assembly can do so from the conference hall of the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC), Lok Seva Bhawan or at the office of the district collectors in their home constituency. Besides, the Leader of the Opposition, who is undergoing treatment at the AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, can also participate in the question hour through video conferencing.

The Speaker further said that all ministers and MLAs will undergo RT-PCR and antibody tests. Both the tests will be conducted the same day, he added.

Talking about the strategy of his party, BJP leader and deputy leader of the Opposition Bishnu Sethi said that they will raise the drought situation, measures taken by the state government to tackle the possible third wave of COVID-19 and the rising incidents of drug trafficking.

Congress leader Narasingha Mishra said that his party will take up issues of drought, hike in the prices of essential commodities, unemployment, law and order, healthcare services and education.