Odisha Assembly’s winter session kicks off; House pays tribute to late members

Bhubaneswar: The winter session of Odisha Legislative Assembly commenced today with the House paying tribute to its deceased lawmakers.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik moved the condolence motion as a mark of respect to the memory of the departed sitting members — Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha and Bishnu Charan Sethi –, and former members — Golak Bihari Naik, Kapil Narayan Tiwari, Gopanarayan Das  and Adikanda Sethi.

The motion was supported by the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jayanarayan Mishra, Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra, CPI (M) MLA Laxman Munda and the Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha.

The House observed one minute silence following which the Speaker  adjourned the House till 5 pm.

The 11the session of 16th Odisha Legislative Assembly will have 33 working days with 5 No Meeting days. It will continue till December 31.

As per the schedule, the first supplementary statement of expenditure for the year 2022-23 will be presented on the first day of the winter session. The demands for grants – first supplementary statement of expenditure for the year will be tabled on November 30 and December 1. The Appropriation Bill on the first supplementary statement of expenditure for the year 2022-23 will be presented on December 2.

The private members’ business (bills & resolutions) will be tabled on November 25, December 9, December 16, December 23 December 28 and December 30.

After two-year Covid hiatus, the journalist are allowed to sit in the press gallery of the House to cover the daily business of the session as the Government has lifted the Covid restrictions in the state.

In this session, the members were seated on their respective chairs. However, the Speaker has allowed Chief Minister Minister Naveen Patnaik, Minister Prafulla Mallick and MLA Prafulla Samal to attend the House proceedings virtually on their health grounds.