Day 2 of Odisha assembly drowns in din over paddy procurement

The second day of the OdishaAssemblys budget session was washed away due to a ruckuscreated by the opposition BJP and Congress members whodemanded immediate lifting of paddy from various state-runmandis.

The assembly failed to transact any business duringthe day as opposition MLAs refused to accept Speaker S NPatro's repeated requests to participate in the proceedings,prompting him to adjourn the House several times in the pre-lunch and post-lunch period.

The Speaker convened an all-party meeting to resolvethe stalemate but no agreement could be achieved.

While Congress members demanded that the House accepttheir notice for discussion on alleged irregularities in thepaddy procurement process suspending all other businesses, BJPMLAs wanted an announcement from the government that all paddybags lying in mandis will be lifted within 7 days.

As Speaker Patro did not accept notices of theCongress and the BJP and wanted the Question Hour to begin,the opposition members started raising slogans against the BJDgovernment, alleging that it did not procure paddy fromfarmers, due to which they incurred huge losses.

The saffron party members also alleged that farmershave been waiting at the government-run mandis for severaldays but unable to sell their produce as the regulated marketshave stocks of the crop.

Congress legislators led by the party's chief whipTaraprasad Bahinipati trooped to the well of the House overthe paddy procurement issues and attempted to climb theSpeaker's podium.

A few of them tried to remove the fibre shield placedbefore the Speaker's chair and made efforts to snatch papersfrom his desk.

Speaker S N Patro's request to members seeking theircooperation failed to yield any result forcing him to announcetwo adjournments during the pre-lunch session and at leastseven back to back adjournments in the post-lunch sessionbefore convening the all-party meeting.

Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishrasaid that his party will not allow any transaction in theHouse until the government comes up for a detailed discussionon the issue after suspending all other businesses.

''We will not allow the House to function until all thepaddy bags are cleared from the mandis,'' Congress chief whipTaraprasad Bahinipati said.

Outside the House, Leader of Opposition P K Naik ofthe BJP said, ''We will not cooperate unless the governmentgives an assurance to the House that all paddy bags lying inmandis will be lifted within seven days.'' ''It is strange that the government has not been ableto procure Kharif paddy from farmers even as the Rabi cropseason has already started,'' he said.

BJP deputy leader in the House BC Sethi said, ''TheCentre has been providing funds for paddy procurement, but thestate government is not properly utilising the money.'' BJD vice-president and senior member Debi PrasadMishra said, ''The opposition members can raise the issue butthey are disrupting the proceedings, which is not desired.''PTI AAMNN NN