By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: As expected, Odisha Assembly Speaker Surya Narayan Patro was on Monday adjourned the 2nd phase of Budget session for an indefinite period soon after the House passed the Appropriation Bill for 2020-21. The session was about to end on August 8 but with COVID-19 fear round the corner, Speaker adjourned the House, sources said.
The budget session 2020-21 had begun on February 14 and continued till Feb 26. The second phase of the session commenced on March 11. However, taking precautionary measure to tackle COVID-19, the budget session was adjourned on March 13 till 29.
The house, which was met, at Convention Hall of Lok Seva Bhawan instead of the traditional Assembly Building, lasted only for about 30 minutes after it resumed its work at around 10.30 am early in the day.
The Appropriation Bill of Rs 1,55,963 crore was passed just in 30 minutes without debate after commencement of session at 10.30 am. Assembly Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro applied guillotine to pass the bill and adjourned the House for indefinite period, informed BJD MLA Amar Prasad Satapathy.
The MLAs and ministers were spotted entering into the Hall wearing mask on their face as part of precautionary measure. The sitting arrangements were also made for the members laying emphasis on social distancing.
The venue for conducting second phase of budget session was shifted to the Convention Hall of Lok Seva Bhawan after an official of Assembly was found to have come in contact with a person, who tested positive for COVID-19.
