Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly conducted only 13 minutes of business on the opening day of its Monsoon Session Tuesday as repeated disruptions by Opposition members led to multiple adjournments.
The House functioned for two minutes before lunch and 11 minutes after 4 pm. Proceedings were first adjourned until 1:30 pm, and later until 4 pm, before the House was adjourned for the day.
When the House reassembled at 1:10 pm., Opposition members continued their protest and refused to return to their seats. Deputy Speaker Bhabani Shankar Bhoi subsequently adjourned the proceedings until 4 pm.
After the House resumed in the afternoon, Opposition MLAs again entered the well and continued their agitation despite repeated appeals from the chair to return to their seats. Bhoi eventually adjourned the House for the day until Wednesday.
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Earlier, BJD MLAs joined members of the party’s youth and student wings who were staging an Assembly gherao on Mahatma Gandhi Marg over errors in school textbooks.
“We joined the agitation demanding Gond’s resignation over errors in textbooks. The minister must be held accountable for the distribution of the error-ridden books to schoolchildren,” Opposition Chief Whip Pramila Mallik said.
BJP MLA Irasish Acharya criticised the Opposition for disrupting the proceedings, saying the government had already taken action over the textbook errors and that corrected books were being distributed.
The nine-day Monsoon Session, scheduled to continue until October 3, is expected to see the introduction of six key Bills.
