Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly Tuesday plunged into chaos as opposition BJD MLAs held protests in the House against the BJP government’s decision to empower BDOs at the “cost of three-tier panchayat functionaries”, prompting Speaker Surama Padhy to adjourn the proceedings till 4 pm.
As soon as the House assembled for Question Hour at 10.30 am, BJD MLAs, holding placards, trooped into the well of the House and raised anti-BJP slogans.
The BJD member demanded that the state government roll back the cabinet decision to “raise the financial powers of block development officers (BDOs) and engineers”.
“The elected panchayat members will have no say on the projects as officers will take all decisions. Engineers and BDs have been empowered at the cost of three-tier panchayat functionaries,” BJD deputy leader in the Assembly, Prasanna Acharya, said.
This was the fourth day in the current monsoon session, when Question Hour was disrupted.
Congress MLAs alleged that the BJD members were protecting the ruling BJP by disrupting the proceedings.
“BJD and BJP work in tandem and ensure that the Assembly proceedings are disrupted,” Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rama Chandra Kadam said.
Speaker Surama Padhy made several appeals to agitating members to return to their seats.
Unable to run the House, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 4 PM.
Amid the din, the Speaker allowed Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Rabi Narayan Naik to reply to the question of BJP member Upasana Mohapatra.
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Ganeshram Singh Khuntia also replied to BJP member Babu Singh’s queries.
The Question Hour could function for 10 minutes even as the BJD members were raising slogans in the well of the House.
PTI