Odisha Speaker Calls All Party Meet On Nov 18 Ahead Of Winter Session

Bhubaneswar: The Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly has called an all-party meet on November 18 ahead of the Winter Session to ensure smooth functioning of the House.

Speaker Surya Narayan Patro will discuss subjects regarding Question Hour, Starred Questions and seek opinions of other members on the matter. Notably, starred questions were not taken up during last monsoon session.

The newly elected MLAs- Swarup Das from Balasore Sadar and Bijay Shankar Das from Tirtol will also take oath on the same day.

Leader of Opposition Pradipta Nayak has backed the Question Hour during the session.

"There is a need of the Question Hour so that the members can raise issues of their respective constituencies. I feel the outbreak of Covid-19 has decreased. So, the duration of daily House transaction should increase up to five hours. Every member should get an opportunity to speak in the House", Nayak said.

The winter session will commence from November 20 and will continue till December 3.

As per the schedule, the supplementary budget for financial year 2020-21 will be presented on the first day of the session.

It was decided earlier that all MLAs, their PSOs and drivers will undergo Covid-19 test before the commencement of the session.

The government has decided to conduct the RT-PCR tests  once before the beginning of the session and one more time after the end of the session.

If a member feels unwell in the middle of the session, he/she can go for rapid antigen test on short notice.

All officials and related staff required to go inside will be provided with face shield, mask, hand gloves and sanitizers before beginning of the day.