Vociferous demands by the opposition demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over the flyover collapse in the city forced the Odisha speaker to adjourn the assembly at least five times before normalcy returned in the evening.
As soon as the house assembled for the day, Amat asked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to give a statement on Sunday's flyover collapse at Bomikhal which had claimed the life of one person and left 11 injured.
When Patnaik was reading out the statement, Congress and BJP legislators rushed to the well of the house demanding his resignation, as he is also in charge of the works department.
Patnaik, however, completed the statement, amid the din.
He said prompt actions were taken immediately after the flyover collapse and a case has been registered under Sections 304 (culpable homicide), 337 (causing hurt), 338 (causing grievous hurt) and 34 (criminal act) of IPC against Panda Infra Project (India) Pvt Ltd, Bansidhar Praharaj, deputy executive engineer and Kishore Kumar Rout, assistant engineer.
Praharaj and Rout have been placed under suspension, the CM said adding that executive engineer Dukhabandhu Behera has also been suspended for prima facie lapses.
The case is under investigation and a high-level inquiry by a committee comprising the chief engineer of designs and chief engineer of roads has been ordered.
The committee has been asked to submit its report within a week, he informed the house.
"My government will ensure that stringent and exemplary action is taken against all persons responsible for the tragic incident," the chief minister said.
The Opposition members were, however, unhappy with his statement and kept up their demand for his resignation.
Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra of Congress and party legislators had moved separate notices seeking immediate discussion on the matter and suspending the Question Hour.
"It is unfortunate that the Speaker did not give me an opportunity to speak even though I had moved a motion seeking a detailed discussion on the flyover collapse issue," Mishra said.
However, the Speaker allowed the Question Hour, leading to vociferous protests from the Opposition.
As the House could not function due to the pandemonium, Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat convened an all party meeting which agreed that the time will be fixed at the Business Advisory Committee for a discussion on the flyover collapse issue in the assembly.
The members of opposition BJD, Congress and BJP attended the meeting and participated in the business of the house in the evening.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)