Uproar in Assembly over coal scam

The Orissa legislative assembly today witnessed pandemonium with the Opposition members creating a ruckus over the alleged involvement of the two state ministers in the multi-crore coal scam.

The ministers in the dock were the school and mass education minister Pratap Jena and the state minister for housing and urban development Badrinarayan Patra.

The scam related siphoning of crores of rupees through supply of coal at concessional rate to non-existent small scale industries.

The state vigilance, which is currently enquiring into the matter, has arrested some officers of the corporation.

But the opposition accused the ministers of being involved in the irregularities when they served as chairman of the state owned Orissa Small Industries Corporation (OSIC) before being appointed as ministers.

The Assembly was adjourned thrice and all the proceedings of the house came to a grinding halt with the Opposition members crying foul over the scam and demanding a debate on the issue on the floor of the house.

Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh drew the attention of the Assembly speaker Pradeep Amat on the alleged involvement of the two ministers in the coal scam as soon as the house assembled for the day.

With Singh' plea going unheeded, the Congress members trooped into the well and some of them even attempted to climb to the speaker's chair, leading to the uproar in the opening day of the house in the second phase of the monsoon session that had commenced after a break of over 15 days.