Bhubaneswar, July 16 : The death of six people in Kashipur block in Odisha’s Rayagada district in the last three days in diarrhoea created an uproar in Odisha Assembly during zero hour on Saturday.
Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukh was forced to adjourn the house twice after the Congress members trooped into the well and shouted slogans demanding a ruling from the Speaker to direct the Chief Minister to come to the house and make a statement on the issue .
Raising the issue Congress legislature Party Leader Narasingha Mishra said the state government is claiming that 1.36 lakh people out of 1.54 lakh in Kashipur block are being provided Rs 1 kg rice yet people are consuming Mango seeds and dying of diarrhoea and hunger there.
Mishra said it indicated that rice provided by the government is not sufficient. There are many areas like Kashipur in the state, but the government instead of addressing these issues is busy acquiring awards by furnishing false information.
The government, he said, is taking credit by launching various populism programmes and exploiting the people like a private money lender.
He urged the speaker to take it seriously and issue a ruling directing the Chief Minister to come to the house and make a statement on the issue on what steps he has taken after these deaths.
His party colleague Tara Prasad Bahinipati said the death of people in Kashipur after 23 years of BJD rule and 75 years of independence is very unfortunate and shameful.
He reiterated the demand made by CLP leader Narasingha Mishra and urged the Speaker to give a ruling directing the Chief Minister to make a statement on the issue.
Local BJD MLA Makaranda Muduli said six people have died of diarrhoea and a medical team has been sent to the spot to take preventive measures.
He demanded the government to send a state level medical team to the affected areas to assess the situation and take action. Muduli said water from the area has been sent for examination and the result of the test report is awaited.
The issue took an ugly turn when the Speaker said he had reserved his ruling and appealed to the agitating members to go to their seat and cooperate in conducting the business of the house.
The agitated Congress members however, rushed to the well and shouted slogans in support of their demand.
The Speaker adjourned the house first at 1205 for ten minutes and extended it for another 15 minutes when his repeated appeals failed to pacify the agitated congress members
Normalcy returned when the house reassembled after the adjournment and the Speaker directed the Parliamentary Affairs Minister to make a statement in the house on the issue on Monday.
