BHUBANESWAR: Speaker of the Odisha Assembly Surya Narayan Patro on Friday announced formation of a House committee to probe into the circumstances under which Shree Jagannath Temple fund amounting to Rs 545 crore was deposited in the crisis-ridden Yes Bank.
The Speaker announced the names of the committee members before adjourning the House till March 29 in view of the coronavirus scare. A motion moved by Government chief whip Pramila Mallik in this regard was approved in the House. The committee will submit a memorandum to the Centre and Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relating to the release of the temple funds from the Yes Bank.
The committee to be headed by the Speaker will have Leader of the Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik, Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Narasingh Mishra, Congress whip Taraprasad Bahinipati and CPM member Laxman Munda as members from the opposition parties.
Besides, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha, Government Chief Whip Pramila Mallik, senior BJD MLAs Debi Prasad Mishra, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Subash Chandra Panigrahi and Pratap Keshari Deb have been appointed as the members of the committee.
Earlier in the day, the Assembly was adjourned for one hour during the Question Hour due to an uproar by the BJP members who demanded a House committee to probe into the matter. They rushed to the well of the House as soon as question hour began and requested the Speaker to form the committee and CBI probe to identify those involved it. The Congress members were seen supporting the BJP MLAs by standing near their seats. Unable to run the proceedings, the Speaker adjourned the House till 11.30 am.