Oppn stalls House over Mahanadi

Bhubaneswar: Opposition BJP and Congress on Thursday created a ruckus in Odisha assembly over Mahanadi water dispute issue and paralysed the proceedings of the house. Following the uproarious scenes by opposition leaders soon after the day’s proceedings started, speaker B K Arukh was forced to adjourn the assembly till 4 pm.
With the beginning of the zero hour in the assembly on Thursday, both Congress and BJP leaders demanded the speaker to allow a discussion on Mahanadi water issue through a special motion suspending all other scheduled businesses and question hour.
The BJP and Congress leaders stormed to the well of the house shouting slogans and did not allow the house to run. They criticised the state government for not being able to resolve the dispute with neighbouring Chhattisgarh and its failure to construct barrages on Mahanadi. BJP MLAs also blamed the callous attitude of the state government for Mahanadi river drying up and demanded a discussion on all issues related to the river, including steps taken by the state.
Congress MLAs, on the other hand, criticised both the Centre and state governments for not giving enough attention and importance to the Mahanadi issue.