The State Assembly on Monday witnessed frequent adjournments and many of its businesses could not be conducted as Opposition Congress and BJP members expressed resentments over the rising incidents of rape of minor girls and other crimes and kept demanding more discussion on the issues.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik said the State Government has completely failed to check minor girl rape incidents.
Stating that a seven-year-old minor girl was raped and dumped in Angul town on Sunday, Naik said while the number of girls missing is on the rise every year, the number of tracing them has remained very low.
“In 2019, 520 cases of missing of girls have been reported whereas police have traced only 79 of them. While 100 boys went missing, police have traced 31 of them only,” said Naik.
He alleged that women are not at all secure in the State. He demanded that the Government come out with clarifications as to why the law and situation is not being controlled.
Raising the issues of minor girl rapes at Angul and Bhawanipatna, Congress Legislature Party Leader Narasingha Mishra alleged that the Government has been completely nonfunctional. He slammed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for recently claiming in the House that the law and order situation was by and large normal in the State.
“A responsible Government has to tell the House what preventive steps it has taken to stop minor girl rapes and control the law and order situation,” demanded Mishra.
Mishra also alleged that the Government is not addressing the issues and furnishing only false data.
Congress MLA Santosh Singh Saluja also expressed concern over raping of a 13-year-old girl at a shelter home in Bhawanipatna.
As Speaker SN Patro directed the Government to make a statement in the House and called for holding discussion on an Adjournment Motion on unemployment, Congress and BJP members rushed into the
Well of the House and demanded that more discussion on the issues of minor girls be discussion. Unable to run the proceedings of the House, the Speaker adjourned the House at 12.17 am till 12.30 pm.
When the House reassembled, the members also demanded resignation of the Chief Minister. This time, the Speaker adjourned the House till 3 pm.
During afternoon hours, the members also kept making same demand.
The Speaker had to adjourn the House three times till 6.12pm. After an all-party meeting failed to yield any result, Congress members boycotted the House and staged a dharna at Mahatma Gandhi statue and BJP members continue sitting on dharna inside the House.