Odisha Assembly Winter Session begins with Covid precautions

Bhubaneswar, Nov 20 (IANS) The Winter Session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly began on Friday with adherence to the Covid-19 guidelines.The session began with obituary references to former Speaker Sarat Kar, ex-MLAs Kartikeswar Patra and Gurupada Nanda. The House also paid rich tributes to the Covid warriors.Then, Speaker Surya Narayan Patro adjourned the House till 3 p.m.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik attended the first day of the session through video conferencing from his residence Naveen Nivas, while several Ministers and MLAs participated in the proceedings from the conference hall of the state secretariat.The 40-day session will continue till December 31. It shall function for four and a half hours daily. There will be no question hour in the Winter Session, said sources.As per the schedule, Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari will present the supplementary Budget in the second half of the first day.All the MLAs, staff and other senior officials underwent Covid testing prior to the start of the session.
--IANS cd/dpb