Orissa Assembly impasse:Congress to stall the house

Bhubaneswar, Nov 23 (UNI) Leader of Opposition in the Orissa Assembly J B Patnaik today threatened to continue the agitation inside the House till the government conceded to their demand for discussion on police action on farmers under Rule 113(b).

''The treasury bench members tried to run the House by force but we will not allow this till the government concedes our demand,'' Mr Pattnaik told newsmen here.

The Assembly was paralysed for the fifth day today as the Opposition and the treasury benches failed to reach a consensus over the rule under which the discussion on the farmers' issue would be taken up.

While the government wanted the motion to be discussed under Rule 113(c), the Opposition demanded discussion under Rule 113(b) which has a provision for voting after the debate.

Mr Patnaik alleged that while the chief minister said not a drop of water meant for farmers would be diverted to industries, he was signing MoUs with one industry after another to supply it at a time when there was not sufficient water for irrigation.

He said the government did not want voting as it wanted to bypass the issue and protect the interest of the industrialists.

''By insisting on a discussion under Rule 113(c) the government wants to play with the fate of farmers. But this will not be tolerated,'' the leader of Opposition said.

Mr Pattnaik said the Hirakud dam was built with the objective to control flood, irrigate the land and generate power and not to supply water to the industries.

UNI