Odisha assembly adjourned till 3 pm over fuel price hike issue

Odisha assembly was today adjourned till the post-lunch session, following an uproar by the ruling BJD and Opposition Congress over the fuel price hike issue.
Though the Question Hour passed off peacefully for about 50 minutes, the Congress and BJD members raised the fuel price hike issue and created pandemonium, forcing Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat to adjourn the House till 3 pm.
Members of the Congress were seen wearing aprons bearing paintings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inside the assembly, to protest the rising price of fuel.
Earlier, the Congress had moved an adjournment motion notice over the recent flyover collapse incident, alleging poor infrastructural work. As the House was adjourned till 3 pm, the discussion could not be held.

"Though price of fuel is decreasing across the globe, it is increasing in our state and country. The Central government had declared a daily fuel price revision, but it has only resulted in hike of petrol and diesel prices," government chief whip Amar Prasad Satpathy said outside the House.
He said the consumers are getting affected, as price of essential commodities also increases with fuel price.

Opposition BJP, however, called it a "fixing" between the BJD and the Congress to protect the ruling party, as a debate over the motion could have put the state government in trouble.
BJP member Rabinarayan Naik alleged that though the Congress had moved an adjournment notice over the flyover collapse incident, it later joined hands with the BJD and disrupted the proceeding.

"The Congress members protested the fuel price hike and deviated from the flyover collapse issue. It appears that there is a fixing between the Congress and BJD to protect the Chief Minister (Naveen Patnaik) who is in charge of Works," Naik said.
BJP's allegation was, however, rejected by Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati. "The Congress doesn't have the tradition of involving in fixing with other parties. Rather, the BJP has the habit of doing so," he said.