BHUBANESWAR: Uproarious scenes prevailed in the Assembly on Wednesday with Opposition BJP and Congress members strongly opposing the state government's move to allow the transfer of tribal land to non-tribals.
No business could be transacted in the House as Opposition members continued with their protest throughout the day. An all-party meeting convened by speaker Pramila Mallik also failed to resolve the issue as Opposition MLAs demanded the government to completely withdraw the proposal to amend regulation-2 of 1956.
As soon as the members assembled for question hour, agitating BJP and Congress MLAs trooped into the well of the House and shouted slogans demanding immediate withdrawal of the decision leading to several adjournments. Congress members also demanded implementation of the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 in the state. Noisy scenes continued during the afternoon session leading the speaker to adjourn the House for the day.
Later, BJP members staged a protest outside the House holding banners. “Though the state government makes tall claims that it is of the tribals, for the tribals, and by the tribals, the recent move of the government has exposed it is anti-tribal,” Opposition chief whip Mohan Majhi said. The decision of the cabinet is against the provision of the Constitution, he said adding as the decision was put on hold, the government can reinforce it later. The BJP has been demanding complete withdrawal of the decision, he added.
Majhi said the BJP requested the speaker to allow a motion to discuss the issue suspending other businesses of the House. However, it was rejected. “So, we staged a protest inside the House,” he said. Congress whip Taraprasad Bahinipati said his party welcomed one of the decisions of the cabinet but was not in favour of the decision to allow transfer of ST land to non-tribals. He said PESA Act, 1996 should be implemented in the state to safeguard the interest of tribals.
Rejecting the Opposition’s claims, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Sudam Marndi claimed the BJD government has all along worked for the welfare of tribals. On the recent Cabinet decision, Marndi said it was withheld as per the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. However, Opposition BJP and Congress are playing cheap politics over the issue and stalling the House proceedings, he added.