Bhubaneswar: Speaker Surama Padhy on Friday called an all-party meeting as Opposition members continued to stall the proceedings in the Odisha Legislative Assembly for the fourth day.
A previous meeting had failed to resolve the impasse.
The House has been witnessing noisy scenes since Tuesday with Opposition members trooping into the well, holding placards, and shouting anti-government slogans, while demanding resignation of Health and Family Welfare minister Mukesh Mahaling on moral grounds over the fire mishap at SCB Medical College and Hospital on March 16, which claimed lives of 13 patients.
When the House assembled for the Question Hour at 10.30 am on Friday and the Speaker allowed School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond to reply to certain questions, BJD and Congress members began shouting slogans like ‘Double Engine, Double Dhoka’ and ‘Health Minister Must Resign’.
The situation turned chaotic as some MLAs attempted to climb onto the Speaker’s podium and were prevented by the marshals.
The Speaker initially adjourned the House till 11.30 am. Amid the persistent uproar, however, she was forced to adjourn proceedings further until 4 pm and called for another all-party meeting to address the stalemate.
Opposition whip Pramila Mallik, however, firmly stated that the agitation would continue until the Health Minister resigned on moral grounds. “Who is responsible for the death of 13 patients and burn injuries to 11 others in a government-run hospital?” she asked, while citing resignation of the then health minister Atanu S Nayak over a similar fire tragedy at a private hospital in 2016 during the BJD regime.
She further questioned the BJP government’s moral stance. “Where is the morality of the BJP government? This time, the incident occurred in a government facility,” Mallik said, adding that the Opposition will fight for justice.
Rejecting the Opposition demand, BJP MLA Ashok Mohanty said that the resignation would not solve the problem. “The previous BJD government did not make any fire safety arrangements in SCB medical college hospital during its 24-year tenure. Now, within two years, the BJP government has provided Rs 800 crore for the infrastructure development of the SCB Medical College. Things cannot be set right overnight,” he said.
He mentioned the suspension of four officials, an ex gratia of rs 25 lakh for the victims’ families and a judicial probe led by retired judge Laxmidhar Biswal, who has been asked to submit the inquiry report in 60 days.
Speaking during the debate on the Water Resources Department budget on Thursday, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi had earlier strongly condemned the Opposition’s ongoing protests, labelling them as mere “drama” and accusing them of mocking the grief of families affected by the recent tragic fire by holding symbolic “funeral procession” in the Assembly.
Majhi further noted that while raising incidents in the Assembly is a democratic tradition, normalcy should return after all-party meetings. “If not that, they can sit on dharna near the Gandhi statue or approach the governor. We were also doing this when in opposition,” he said.
In a pointed jab at Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik, Majhi observed that the former chief minister, who rarely attended proceedings in the past, has been regularly present now. “Our MLAs are saying, what have you done that LoP is attending the House every day,” he quipped.
(With inputs from PTI)
