The Motion of Thanks on the Governor’s Address was passed in the State Assembly on Wednesday amid Opposition parties’ walkouts and frequent adjournments till evening.
The House couldn’t transact normal businesses, excepting an obituary, till 5.03 pm as Opposition Congress and BJP members kept protesting against chit fund scam and farmers’ problems all through the day.
Both Congress and BJP members rushed to the Well of the House and shouted slogans soon after obituaries on Aska MP Ladu Kishoere Swain and former MLA Priyanath Dey was over at 10.40 am.
The BJP members alleged that the State Government has failed in returning chit fund money to investors and resolve various farmer issues.
The Congress members demanded that the Governenment soon waive farm loans, procure paddy from farmers at an appropriate MSP and pay allowance to unemployed youths.
As protests by the Opposition members continued through the day, Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat adjourned the proceedings five times till 5.03 pm.
Though he had earlier convened an all-party meeting to resolve the impasse, it proved futile.
When the House reassembled, discussion on the Governor’s address resumed. However, BJP and Congress members staged walkouts.
Keeping their views, Mahesh Sahoo and Umakant Samantray said the State Government has taken all possible steps for development of the State and people of different sections of the society.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said Odisha is now on the path of rapid transformation and is distinctly positioned as progressive State setting national and even global benchmarks.
“Odisha is the only State in the country which has doubled farmers’ income in real terms in the last one decade. The State is now among the largest contributors to the public distribution system,” he said.
He said the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana has provided health coverage to 3.5 crore people.
He said the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) has been widely appreciated in the country so much so that the Union Government followed the suit. However, the Union Government has left out the sharecroppers, landless labourers, he lamented.
The State Government’s promise of providing additional 10 lakh hectares of irrigation would be achieved by April 2019,he said.
The State Government has launched its own State Food Security Scheme under which more than 23 lakh beneficiaries have been covered.
The pro-people initiative “Ama Gaon Ama Bikash” has been completed in all 314 Blocks. 62 thousand 857 projects amounting to Rupees 1554 crore have been sanctioned.
Following the CM reply, the motion was passed.