Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: The second phase of the Budget session of the Assembly is set to get underway on a stormy note April 26 with the opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gearing up to corner treasury bench members over the chit fund scam and the drinking water crisis.
Congress members will raise the issue of the notice by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to food supplies and consumer welfare minister Sanjay Das Burma for allegedly taking favours from chit fund firm Artha Tatwa (AT) Group, according to party sources. The delay in refund of money to depositors, especially small investors, has given the opposition parties a shot in the arm to the opposition parties in their fight against the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
The opposition parties are also gearing up to take on the BJD government on the issue of water scarcity and the dearth of drinking water this summer.
The state government claims to have taken all possible steps to help people overcome the water crisis this summer with temperatures crossing 480 C in the state. However, opposition leaders allege that many villages in rural areas who are facing water scarcity are still deprived of potable water as the state government has failed to send tankers to those areas. The alleged toll because of sunstroke has crossed 80 in the state. The issues of the shifting of the wagon factory from Kalahandi to Vishakhapatnam and suicides by farmers, which had created havoc during the first phase of the session, is expected to figure during this session also.
However, BJD members are likely to once again focus on the central apathy towards the state to counter the opposition members. The party has been claiming that the state government has not received adequate financial assistance for tackling the previous year’s drought.
The Budget for the remaining 10 months of the 2016-17 fiscal will be approved during this session of the Assembly, which will continue till May 20. A few crucial Bills are also likely to be tabled.
