India

Odisha assembly witnesses ruckus over ‘PC culture’

Opposition members on Wednesday created a ruckus in the Odisha Assembly over non-acceptance of an adjournment motion on the rampant practice of “percentage commission”, or PC, in government offices.

The “PC culture” issue rocked the assembly for the second consecutive day with the Opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members alleging that corruption is widespread in the administration despite the call given by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to stop it.

Unable to run the House smoothly, Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat adjourned it till 3 p.m. as pandemonium prevailed from the beginning of Question Hour.

As soon as the members assembled for the day, Congress and BJP members rushed to the well of the House and created a ruckus, shouting slogans over the “PC” issue.

Earlier, an adjournment notice moved by Congress on the issue was rejected by the Speaker.

“We had moved an adjournment notice for discussion over the ‘PC’ matter but the Speaker rejected it following the direction of the Chief Minister. We protested in the House today. The government is trying to protect corrupt officials,” Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati told reporters here.

BJP MLA Rabi Narayan Naik said they protested in the House as a discussion on the “PC” issue was not allowed.

He also said the “PC culture” should be stopped in the state and action must be taken against bribe-taking officials.

On the other hand, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) criticised the Opposition members for stalling the proceedings of the House.

“The Chief Minister had earlier made it clear that the ‘PC culture’ should be stopped. It is unfortunate that the Opposition members did not allow Question Hour to run properly. A detailed discussion on the ‘PC’ issue was held yesterday. They (Opposition members) could have raised the matter during the all-party meeting,” said BJD MLA Sameer Das.

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