Ruckus In Odisha Assembly Over Hike In Power tariff,Oppn Congress Seeks Intervention Of Governor.
By B.Maharana
25 March. Bhubaneswar
The Proceeding of the Odisha Assembly Wednesday was virtually paralyzed due to repeated adjournments as the opposition Congress and BJP members created ruckus protesting the power tariff hike slated to be implemented from April 1.
The house was adjourned till 1500 hrs without transacting any business in pre-launch session as Opposition Congress and the BJP stalled proceedings demanding rollback of hike in electricity tariff and demanding immediate discussion on the issue by suspending the Question hour.
As the house began to assemble at 10.30 AM , the opposition members raised slogans and waved placards condemning the hike. They also went near the speakers’ podium forcing the speaker to adjourn the house till 12.30 p.m. and later till 3 p.m.
The House passed the demand for Grants relating to School and Education Department amid chaos as similar situation prevailed in the afternoon session. The Opposition members did not participate in the demand discussion in protest and boycotted the Minister Debi Mishra’s reply to sit in a dharana near the Mahatma Gandhi Statue in the Assembly premises.
“We had demanded suspension of the question hour and debate on adjournment over power tariff hike. But the speaker rejected our demand. Even as the speaker has his rights to reject the demand, we will continue to raise the issue affecting electricity consumers in the state,” said leader of opposition Narasingha Mishra.
BJP legislature party leader Basant Kumar Panda demanded a roll back of the power tariff hike.
While the assembly witnessed pandemonium, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) staged a demonstration near the assembly and submitted a memorandum to the governor seeking roll back of hike in Power tariff.
However, the ruling BJD justified the power tariff hike by OERC. BJD lawmaker Amar Prasad Satpathy said a small hike in tariff had become unavoidable due to the mounting arrears.
Justifying his stand, he said there was no hike in the last two years. The OERC has increased tariffs by 20 paise per unit for domestic consumers while the tariff for the agriculture sector has been raised by 40 paise per unit.