Bhubaneswar: The State Assembly Wednesday enacted the long awaited Orissa Official Language (Amendment) bill 2016 to ensure that Oriya is used for all official purposes in the state. The move came even as the state government drew flak from opposition Congress and BJP for not ensuring adequate provisions in the bill for its implementation.
After a debate on Mahanadi, the Oriya language bill, presented in the house Tuesday, was taken up for discussion and passing.
Participating in the debate, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said at present the bill hardly has any provision to take action for poor implementation of the move. He proposed formation of a commission to monitor its implementation.
However, the proposal of the Leader of Opposition was rejected by the Speaker and the bill passed though a voice vote.
Meanwhile, the House also passed three other bills –The Orissa Electricity (Duty) amendment bill 2016, The Orissa Protection of Interests of Depositors (in financial establishments) amendment bill 2016 and The Orissa Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) bill, 2016.
The Electricity duty amendment bill was passed to replace the Ordinance promulgated for recovery of arrear electricity duty (ED) dues and effect a change in duty structure for certain category of electricity consumers through amendments to the Orissa Electricity (Duty) Act 1961.
Likewise, the Protection of Interests of Depositors bill aims to refund money to “small depositors” duped in the multi-crore chit fund scam.
The bill will replace the Orissa Protection of Interest of Depositors (in financial establishments) Act 2011, said finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat, adding, the bill also proposes to make the punishment for the commission of offence under the Act more stringent. Discussion on two other bills – The Orissa Clinical Establishments (control and regulation) Amendment bill 2016 and Orissa Excise (Amendment) bill 2016 –remained inconclusive and would be taken up for consideration Thursday. The house was adjourned at 9 pm.
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