New Delhi: Filled with turmoil and chaos, the last full-fledged session of the 16th Lok Sabha shred the hopes of Odisha and its ruling party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as several state-related issues couldn’t be discussed.
Natural calamities, agrarian crisis, 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and Assemblies were some of the most important issues on which BJD wanted to hold discussions in both Houses of the Parliament. However, frequent pandemonium in the Houses shattered all the hopes.
BJD Parliamentary party leader in the Lok Sabha Bhartruhari Mahtab said the party MPs participated in question hour and on certain Bills. However, the House lost enormous time due to continuous disruptions.
“The most important aspect was relating to natural calamities. Though it was listed continuously for more than 10-12 days, because of frequent disruptions it was just mentioned a day before the House was adjourned. A fruitful deliberation could not take place on the issue,” said Mahtab.
In the Lower House, the BJD MPs have participated in 10 Bills. Besides, three BJD MPs introduced eight private members Bills. During discussion on Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2018-19, Mahtab sought financial autonomy to the state and also urged for the revision of coal royalty and reduction of GST on Kendu leaves. The BJD also sought white paper on Rafale deal.
To sum up, the party MPs posed 203 starred/unstarred questions in the Lok Sabha.
Similarly, BJD Parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha Prasanna Acharya said there was too much of turmoil in the Upper House and very important issues concerning states and the country could not be discussed.
“Our state suffered a lot due to Cyclone Titli. Whatever losses we sustained we wanted to be compensated to the great extent by the Central government but the Central government’s attitude was not very much enthusiastic. We wanted to discuss it in the Parliament. We gave motion to the Rajya Sabha and it was admitted but it could not be discussed. It is a loss for the states like Odisha, Kerala and others,” he said.
He further said that the BJD gave motion three times to discuss farmers’ issues but it could not be taken up because of disturbances.
BJD on Bills in Lok Sabha
–Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016
–Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016
–Consumer Protection Bill, 2018
–Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill
–Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill
–Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2018
–Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill
–Constitution 124th Amendment Bill, 2019
–Citizenship Amendment Bill
–Dam Safety Bill, 2018