Pandemonium in Orissa Assembly; House adjourned twice

Bhubaneswar, Feb 14 (UNI) Pandemonium prevailed in the Orissa Assembly during the question hour as Speaker Maheswar Mohanty refused to concede to the opposition demand to discuss the scam in World Bank-funded health project.

The Opposition trooped into the well in support of their demand and disrupted the business, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House for 30 minutes and later for another 15 minutes by Deputy Speaker Prahalad Dora.

The problem started when the Speaker refused the Congress members to speak on the issue and allowed the main questionnaire Debasis Patnaik(Congress) to speak before the Minister's final reply.

Aggrieved Opposition Congress members were soon seen on their feet and demanded the Speaker to allow more members to participate in the question.

But the Speaker did not pay any heed to the demand.

He said already many members had raised supplimentary questions and an adjournment motion on the issue has been scheduled to be taken up later in the day.

As the agitated Opposition remained adamant in their demand and occupied the well, the Speaker, unable to conduct the business of the House, adjourned it for 30 minutes.

The House reassembled but again adjourned for 15 minutes by the Deputy Speaker Prahallad Dora. The issue was later subsided and the house proceeded with special mention by the members.

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