BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly on Friday witnessed noisy scenes with BJP members protesting the passage of the first special supplementary budget “without” discussion on it in the House.Raising the issue during zero hour, Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi criticised the State Government for passing the supplementary demand through guillotine when the House was not in order. “The first special supplementary statement of expenditure for recoupment of advance from the Odisha Contingency Fund was passed on Thursday afternoon when the House was not in order due to ruckus by Congress members,” he said.
BJP members rushed to the well of the House shouting slogans with Majhi alleging that the passage of the Appropriation Bill without any discussion is against democratic practice. Agitating BJP members were also seen attempting to climb onto the Speaker’s podium.
The House had to be adjourned as repeated appeals by Speaker SN Patro and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha did not have any impact on BJP members.Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingh Mishra strongly objected to the passage of Appropriation Bill for the special supplementary budget. He raised questions on the legality of such a special supplementary budget which was passed only a day after the Appropriation Bill for 2019-20 was okayed in the House.
Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari, however, did not agree with Mishra. He said expenditure on a new scheme which is considered urgent can be met by advance from the contingency fund to be recouped later by supplementary demand. The corpus of the contingency fund, which was `400 crore, was increased to `1,600 crore on January 11, 2019 through an ordinance for implementation of KALIA scheme, he said. The House later passed the Appropriation Bill of `1,443.12 crore for the special supplementary budget.
The BJP members walked out of the House in protest and submitted a memorandum to Governor Ganeshi Lal demanding exemplary action against the Government for violating constitutional norms. The memorandum alleged that the Government had increased the contingency fund for implementation of KALIA, Madhubabu Pension Yojana (III) and Swachh Bharat Mission in view of the General Elections.