Bhubaneswar, Nov 29: The question hour in the Odisha Assembly was adjourned for the second day on Tuesday over the ongoing teachers strike due to stiff protest by the Opposition Congress and BJP members.
As the house assembled for the day to take up the question hour,the Opposition Congress and
BJP members stormed into the well of the house and shouted slogans.
Congress members rushed to the podium and party MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati stood up on a chair to know the response of the government on Speaker B K Arukh’s ruling on the teachers strike which entered the third day on Tuesday.
The speaker had to adjourn the house during the question hour on Monday as Opposition Congress and BJP members stalled the business forcing the speaker to adjourn the house twice till 1145 hours.
The Speaker had to convene an all party meeting to resolve the impasse.The house however resumed to normalcy and the members participated zero hour after the speaker in his ruling
asked the government to pay special attention to the teachers strike.
Thousands of primary teachers from across the state are on indefinite dharna at the Mahatma Gandhi Marg since Sunday on their three point charter of demands which included abolition of the contractual system, introduction of grade pay system and restoration of the old pension system.
Like on Monday the house also on Tuesday witnessed ruckus with Opposition occupying the
well and shouting slogans disrupting the question hour business.
The Speaker asked Minister Pradeep Kumar Amat to reply to the question to which the minister stood up and started replying which was not audible due to slogan shouting and protest by the Opposition members.
The Speaker appealed to the Opposition members to return to their seats and raise the issue
during the zero hours but the agitated opposition did not pay any heed to the speaker’s request.
They wanted to know from the Speaker the response of the government on his ruling on the teachers strike and alleged that while the teachers are sitting on dharna the School and Mass Education Minister remained absent in the Assembly and was busy in Padampur assembly by election campaign.
Speaker Arukh, finding no other way to run the business of the house smoothly, adjourned it till 1130 hours.
