Orissa Assembly adjourned sans business;Naxals flee Gasama forest

Bhubaneswar, Feb 19 (UNI) The Orissa Assembly today witnessed a bedlam leading to its adjournment without transacting any business over the Naxalite attack.

A large number of Naxalites, holed up atop the Gasama hill, meeanwhile, had slipped into other nearby hills under mounting pressure of police and Paramilitary forces.

The Opposition and Treasury were engaged in a scuffle forcing Speaker Maheswar Mohanty and subsequently Deputy Speaker Prahallad Dora to adjourn the House thrice and finally for the day without transacting any business.

Pandemonium was witnessed for the third consecutive day today as the Congress members trooped into the well, disrupting the Question hour and reiterating their demand for a special debate on the Naxalite attack.

The Opposition continued shouting slogans in support of their demand after the Speaker's refusal to suspend the business of the House.

The ultras, who had fled the Gasama forest, had also dumped a large cache of weapons, looted from the Nayagarh Armoury on February 15.

A senior police official, supervising the combing operation along the borders of Ganjam and Phulbani for the past four days, said the Greyhound, Special Operation Group (SOG) and CRPF jawans scanned the entire Gasama hill and to their dismay found the Naxals sneaking into the nearby jungles.

The encounter and combing operation, which was more or less confined to the Gasama hill with the hope that large number of armed ultras were hiding, had now been shifted to the nearby jungles and hillocks in Kandhmal district after the local villagers reported the Naxals moving in small groups in their areas.

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