leader of Opposition in Assembly Bhupindar Singh on Saturday accused the State Government of approving five Bills and a motion on Central neglect to cyclone and flood-affected Odisha in the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) without presence of Opposition Congress, BJP and CPI.
Addressing a Press conference here, Singh said, “The Treasury Bench, which does not want to run business in the Assembly after it misled the people on Central assistance for the recent cyclone and floods, has approved five Bills and one motion in the BAC without taking the Opposition into confidence, which is contrary to law. It is another attempt at killing democracy.”
Further, he alleged the Speaker’s office had informed the party members to attend the BAC at extremely short notice on Friday at 3.45 pm and called the meeting at 4 pm sharp. The meeting was over at about 4.50 pm, before the Opposition members reached. “We were informed at 3.45pm to attend the meeting scheduled to be held at 4 pm. We were holding a Press meet at the Gandhi statue located inside the Assembly and told them that it would take some time for us to attend the meeting. But when we reached the venue, astonishingly, we found that the meeting was already over at 4.50 pm. It was attended only by the BJD members,” lamented Singh. He asked how the ruling party could accord approval to Bills without taking the Opposition into confidence.
The motion on Central neglect during Phailin and subsequent floods was brought by Government chief whip Pravat Tripahty, while five Bills — Odisha Conduct of Exam (Amendment) Bill, 2013, VSS Institute of Medical Science and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2013, Biju Patnaik University of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2013, Odisha Pani Panchayat (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and Indian Stamp (Odisha amendment) Bill, 2013 — were scheduled to be tabled in the Assembly on Monday. Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan said since the Government did not want to run the Assembly after it cut a sorry figure for misleading the people over the Central assistance it was now seeking a safe passage.