Odisha House Passes Bill To Upgrade CET, Appropriation Bill

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly Saturday passed three crucial Bills including the Odisha Appropriation Act (repeal) Bill, 2021 after the Opposition members walked out in protests against the government’s alleged apathy in tackling drought-like situation and farmer’s suicide in Bolangir district.

The House passed the Odisha University of Technology and Research Bill, 2021 which aims at upgrading the four-decade old College of Engineering and Technology (CET) in Bhubaneswar into a non-affiliating unitary university.

The State assembly also cleared the Odisha Town Planning and Improvement Trust (amendment) Bill, 2021 in addition to Appropriation (repeal) Bill, 2021.

Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party members staged a walkout during the Zero Hour in protest against the treatment meted out to the main Opposition party in the House by the party in power. The members staged a sit-in in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Assembly complex. “We are not getting due respect as the main Opposition party deserves in the House,” said a party spokesman.

Tara Falls

As the house witnessed unruly scenes over farmer’s suicide in Bolangir, Congress legislator Tara Prasad Bahinipati was seen standing on a chair near the Speaker’s podium to draw his attention when he suddently fell off the chair. His party MLAs rushed to his rescue immediately.

Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro then instructed his officials to summon a doctor. Subsequently, a doctor visited Bahinipati in the lobby of the Assembly and treated him.

According to reports, the Speaker had cautioned Bahinipati against climbing the podium to stage protests as the Jeypore MLA has recently recovered from Covid-19.