The Assembly witnessed noisy scenes over the chit fund scam with the Opposition demanding a discussion on the issue in the House on Saturday even as Deputy Speaker Sananda Marandi fixed Monday for the debate.
In the face of the Opposition onslaught, the BJD members countered by demanding that a motion should be passed to condemn the delay by the Centre in revising the royalty on minerals which resulted in loss of ` five crore daily for the State.
As soon as the question hour started, Congress members rushed to the well shouting slogans demanding a discussion on the notice for adjournment motion given by them. The House had to be adjourned from 10.33 am to 11.30 am as the situation did not improve despite the Deputy Speaker’s request to the members to return to their seats.
As the House reassembled, Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh wanted to know why the Deputy Speaker did not allow the discussion. Alleging that ruling party politicians including ministers and MLAs had promoted the chit fund companies which defrauded poor people of crores of rupees, Singh said the BJD is avoiding a discussion to cover up the scam.
Even as the Congress members continued slogan shouting in the well, deputy chief whip Sanjay Dasburma said a motion should be brought in the House against the Centre for neglecting the State by delaying revision of royalty on minerals. He said though the study group constituted by the Centre had submitted its report in June, 2012, the royalty is yet to be revised as a result of which the State has suffered a loss Rs 2500 crore till now.
Several other BJD members including Prafulla Chandra Ghadei, Pradip Maharathi, Bed Prakash Agarwal and Amar Prasad Satpathy supported Dasburma’s proposal.
KV Singhdeo (BJP), however, said his party would not support Dasburma’s proposal for passing a motion against the Centre on the issue of revision royalty. Last time also a unanimous resolution was passed in the House on the special category state (SCS) demand, but the BJD politicised the issue by running to New Delhi without consulting the opposition political parties, he said.
Singhdeo’s party colleagues wanted to know comparative study on funds from mining invested in Western and Costal Odisha. As the noisy scenes continued, the Deputy Speaker adjourned the House again till 12.14 pm.