The State Assembly on Friday witnessed noisy scenes as BJP members rushed into the Well of the House and shouted slogans against passing of first Special Supplementary Expenditure for recoupment of advances from the Odisha Contingency Fund (OCF) without participation of Opposition members in the House on Thursday.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, BJP Chief Whip Mohan Charan Majhi wanted to know why opposition members were not allowed to participate in the discussion. The Expenditure was passed in an undemocratic way, alleged Majhi.
As Speaker didn't respond, BJP members rushed into the House and shouted slogans against the Government.
Amid sloganeering, Adjournment Motion titled "Farmers committing suicide; Government takes no efforts to curb it" was discussed.
However, the Opposition members participated in the discussion on the Appropriation Bill (2) relating to the first Special Supplementary Expenditure presented by the Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari during afternoon hours.
Participating in the debate, Majhi alleged that the BJD Government misused the funds from the Odisha Contingency Funds (OCF) in State schemes only to sail through the election. “As per norms, contingency funds can be used for unforeseen purposes. But the Government used the OCF funds for schemes introduced in the interest of the ruling party,” alleged Majhi.
He told the House that his party would leave the House forthwith and go to the Governor’s House to putforth the matter before him. Then, all BJP members walked out of the House.
Congress Legislature Party Leader placed various demands before the Government. He demanded that old-age pension be increased to Rs 1,000 and farmers be given Rs 750 per quintal of paddy over the MSP. His other demands include establishment of model schools in each and filling of all vacant teacher and doctor posts, establishment of a second Agriculture University in Balangir and enhancement of WODC fund to Rs 1,000 crore.
After discussions, Appropriation Bill (2) amounting to Rs 1,443, 12,44,000 was passed.