Bhubaneswar: Senior Congress legislator Narasingha Mishra, Thursday, urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to convene the monsoon session of the Assembly in third week of August to resolve some crucial issues emerged in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.
“We extended full support to you to combat Covid-19, be it adjourning the Assembly or outside the House. Unconditional support was extended to state government for public interest. But after lapse of more than three months, the results of all the steps taken by state government have disappointed us,” Mishra wrote to Naveen.
Now, more than 7,000 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus and the number is increasing alarmingly every day, he said.
Admitting that Odisha is in a better position as compared to some other states, the Congress leader said, “But at the same time some other states have performed better than us. We have failed to provide medical facilities to large sections of people. Doctors are not available in healthcare centres.”
Even in Bhubaneswar doctors are afraid of recording blood pressure of patients, he said, adding, “In my district of Bolangir, doctors do not come to the hospital and also are not available in PHC & CHC.”
While unemployment problem has become acute, the condition of returnee migrants is becoming bad to worse while farmers are unable to sell their paddy. Moreover, prices of essential commodities have been sky-rocketing, he stated.
“Democratic values have gone to dustbin. Constitutional rights have been curtailed. People’s representatives are not being taken into confidence. It is therefore necessary to convene the Assembly session by 3rd week of August 2020 to discuss various problems of people and try to find out solutions jointly for welfare of the state,” he added.
The last session of Assembly was cancelled in mid-March before the scheduled due to the outbreak of the deadly virus.
