Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Congress Tuesday said that they are in no mood to tolerate the abolition of Question Hour during the upcoming Assembly session in the light of COVID-19 outbreak.
Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati Tuesday urged the Speaker to convene an all-party meeting for a better clarity on the proceedings.
“There is information of doing away with the Question Hour. We have not given any support to the closure of the Question Hour and will never do it. There should be an all-party meeting convened at least three days before the Session to have more clarity,” he said.
The Jeypore MLA said that at the Centre the BJP government tried to close down the Question Hour to reduce the debate on the irregularities during the COVID times and in Odisha, the BJD government had been attempting to use the same tack. He said that the ruling dispensation is trying to evade debate on the irregularities committed by the government during the pandemic.
“The Assembly Secretary’s letter does not answer several of our doubts and not clear enough. There are a lot of issues like whether there would be Zero Hour or not and moving of other motions which have not been clearly addressed by the Secretariat before the session,” he said.
He also added, “I urge the Speaker to convene the all-party meeting. This is the practice of the Parliament. Why are you not following such practices? Why doesn’t the Speaker do live telecast of the Assembly proceedings like in the Parliament?”
The leader demanded not to do away with the Question Hour as well as the Zero Hour. Moving of Adjournment Motion as well as Private Member’s Bill should also be allowed, he said.
He also supported the process of COVID testing of MLAs before the session. He said, “We all are ready for the COVID test before the elections. But I suspect that they may debar many leaders and me citing COVID tests. So, I have planned to conduct my COVID test in a private lab the same day.”
The Assembly session will start September 29 and continue till October 7.
