Covid mismanagement, farm Bills to rock House

The meetings of the BJD Legislature Party (BJDLP) and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) have been convened on September 28 to discuss issues to be raised in the House during the session.
Assembly staff queue up for Covid test ahead of Monsoon session of Odisha Legislative Assembly in Bhubaneswar on Saturday | Irfana
Assembly staff queue up for Covid test ahead of Monsoon session of Odisha Legislative Assembly in Bhubaneswar on Saturday | Irfana

BHUBANESWAR:  While mismanagement in the Covid-19 situation will be the major issue before the Opposition BJP and Congress during the Monsoon session of the Assembly beginning from September 29, the focus of the ruling BJD will be on passing of the Bills to replace the 12 ordinances approved by the State Cabinet recently and the Centre’s rejection of State’s demand for compensation of GST losses.

Besides, the farm Bills passed in the Parliament will be raised by the Congress which has launched a nationwide agitation against the legislations describing these as anti-farmer. Meanwhile, the BJP Legislature Party (BJPLP) met here on Saturday to finalise strategy for the session. 

The meetings of the BJD Legislature Party (BJDLP) and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) have been convened on September 28 to discuss issues to be raised in the House during the session. CLP leader Narasingh Mishra said besides mismanagement of Covid-19 situation and large-scale corruption in purchase of masks, PPEs and other items, Congress will raise the deterioration in law and order situation and rise in crime against women.

The major issue will be sidelining of MLAs in decision making regarding Covid-19 management, Mishra said and added, “Legislators are not taken into confidence about activities in their constituencies.” He said Congress will disclose some moves of the Government to protect the erring officials. “Even ordinances were promulgated to protect some officers,” he said.

CLP deputy leader Santosh Singh Saluja came down heavily on the Government for suppressing the number of Covid-19 patients and deaths. “More than 5000 people have died due to virus, but the Government is fudging numbers,” he said and added that these issues will be raised. Besides, the double standard of BJD vis-a-vis the farm Bills will also be raised, he said.

Opposition chief whip Mohan Majhi said the BJP will raise several issues concerning common people including power tariff hike, the manmade floods in Mahanadi and other river systems, scam in selling of Bagala Dharmasala land, the ordinances over universities approved by the Cabinet and large-scale corruption in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Odisha. Senior BJD legislator Amar Prasad Satpathy said the ruling party will raise the issue of Centre’s rejection of the demand to compensate GST losses. “Odisha will lose around Rs 4,500 crore because of the Centre’s denial and the ruling BJD will raise the issue during the session,” he said.

Covid test for MLAs, Assembly staff 
Ahead of the Monsoon session, the BMC officials on Saturday conducted Covid-19 test of Assembly members and staff on its premises. A total 757 samples were drawn for RT-PCR test. Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro and 20 MLAs were among the persons who gave sample for the test on the first day. The camp will also continue on Sunday, said BMC deputy commissioner Subhedu Kumar Sahu.

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