Budget Session in Odisha Assembly likely to be stormy over ‘scams’ in state’s implementation of Awas Yojana, law and order issues

Bhubaneswar: The budget session of Odisha Assembly, which will commence on Friday, is likely to be stormy with both the ruling and Opposition parties formulating strategies on Thursday for raising issues in the House. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, also the leader of the BJD legislature party, said, “The government is ready to face the Assembly and discussions on any issue.” Governor Ganeshi Lal is scheduled to address the members of the House on the first day of the budget session while finance minister Niranjan Pujari will present the annual budget for the fiscal on 18 February. [caption id=“attachment_6717971” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik. AFP[/caption] The BJD legislature, during a party meeting, resolved to raise issues like reduced allocation for railway infrastructure, less share in central tax among other matters. Leader of the Opposition, Pradipta Kumar Naik of the BJP said his party will raise issues like alleged scams in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, deteriorating law and order situation, growing atrocities against women and children, drinking water crisis and lack of doctors in hospitals across the state. Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra said, “There is absolutely no law and order in the state. Incidents of murders, rapes and other crimes are on the rise. We will raise these issues in the House.” Congress members will raise the issue of bonhomie between the ruling BJD and the Opposition BJP in the House, party sources said. Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro, during an all-party meeting, urged the members to ensure healthy debates in the House. There will be 31 working days in the two phases of the budget session. The first phase will be held from 14 to 26 February, while the second one will commence on 11 March and continue till 9 April, a notification issued by the Assembly secretariat said.