Ruckus in Assembly over unemployment, farmers' issues

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Assembly was on Tuesday adjourned twice due to ruckus by the opposition Congress and the BJP over unemployment and failure of state government to provide drought relief to the affected farmers.

While Congress wanted a discussion on the growing unemployment in the state, the BJP said the state government had failed to give relief to the drought-affected farmers.

As soon as the House assembled for the Question Hour, the Congress and BJP members rushed to the well of the House shouting anti-government slogans.

They were protesting denial of permission for a discussion on unemployment and the plight of farmers affected by drought.

Speaker PK Amat first adjourned the House till 11.30 am and then till 12 noon. He also called an all-party meeting to resolve the issues.

When the House reassembled at 12 noon, Leader of Opposition, Narasingha Mishra of the Congress, said unemployment was growing fast. The youths were being attracted to Maoist ideology and acute unemployment was the reason behind the rising crime in the state, he said, adding that this has also led to massive migration.

Criticising the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Mishra said, "PM Modi had promised to provide jobs to 2 crore people every year. After four years in office, he is silent."

He said the unemployment issue could be settled to a certain extent, if the government filled up vacant posts.

Mishra also criticised the state government for not helping the drought-affected farmers in 2017. The government, he said, was silent over the matter.

On the other hand, BJP state unit president and MLA Basant Panda slammed the state government for not providing employment to the youths.

BJP member Rabi Naik said though the district collectors were told to file reports on the loss caused by droughts by October 1, 2017, they failed to do so. No action was taken against any collector, he said demanding waiver of agriculture loans in the state.

BJD MLA and former minister Sanjay Dasburma said the state govenrment has provided skill training to 9,58,694 youths against the target of 11 lakh youths by the end of 2018-19 fiscal.

which culminated on Tuesday, four days ahead of schedule.

The budget session of the Odisha Assembly was adjourned sine die on Tuesday, four days ahead of its schedule.

The Assembly Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat announced the sine die after 26 working days of the House.

A total of eight Bills were passed in the budget session of the Assembly, which was held in two phases. While the first phase was held between March 20 and 31, the second phase was held till date from April 11.

During the session, the annual budget for the 2018-19 financial year was presented on March 23 and the Odisha Appropriation Bill was passed by the House on April 30.

[With Agency Inputs]