Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly on Monday passed the state’s Appropriation Bill for fiscal 2020-21 on the concluding day of the Budget session amid the nationwide lockdown.
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA Amar Satpathy said that the House had been adjourned sine die after the passage of the Bill moved by Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent adjournment of the Assembly from March 13 to 29, discussion on the demands for grants of different state departments could not be taken up.
The Assembly resumed its session on Monday and passed all demands for grants through guillotine. Then it passed the Odisha Appropriation Bill, 2020.
The members were seen wearing masks on the concluding day of the Budget session. They also washed their hands before entering the Lok Seva Bhawan at the state Secretariat.
It was for the first time that the House assembled in the newly built Convention Hall of the Lokseva Bhawan here, with only few members of different political parties in attendance.
The session could not be held in the Assembly building as a coronavirus positive patient was found to have come in contact with some employees of the Assembly secretariat.
Thereafter, the entire Assembly building was sanitised and all staff sent on home-quarantine.
The first phase of the Budget session began on February 14 and ended on February 26. The second phase started on March 11 but was adjourned on March 16 till March 29 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Prasanta Patnaik