Winter session: All party meet on November 18

BHUBANESWAR: Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro has convened an all party meeting on November 18 ahead of the Winter session of the Assembly beginning  November 20.

The Speaker told mediapersons on Sunday that the meeting will decide among other things whether there will be question hour during the session. Question hour was suspended during the Monsoon session held from September 29 to October 7 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the BJP has decided to press for resumption of question hour during the Winter session. Leader of the Opposition Pradipta Naik said the session must have question hour so that MLAs can redress the problems being faced by people of their constituencies. 

Naik said there has been a marked improvement in the coronavirus situation in the State as the new cases have gradually come down. He said in view of the declining trend, the BJP will urge the Speaker to increase the time of the Assembly by one hour to accommodate the question hour.

Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narsingh Mishra, however, said question hour cannot be restored now as star questions have not been submitted by the MLAs. “MLAs were asked to submit unstarred questions and they have done so. Now if we demand restoration of question hour, where are the questions to be discussed in the House,” he said.

The Speaker, however, said there will be two sittings of the House per day with total duration of four and a half hours. He said all MLAs, employees of the Assembly Secretariat, officers of different departments coming to the House and reporters covering the proceedings will have to undergo Covid-19 test from November 17 to 19.

He said RT-PCR tests of the legislators, staff and other officers will be done in a special counter and only those test negative for the virus will be allowed to participate in the Assembly proceedings.