Bhubaneswar, Sep 24 Proceedings in the Odisha Assembly were disrupted for the third consecutive day on Thursday as Opposition BJD and Congress members protested against the MMDR Amendment Act, 2026, which they alleged was passed hurriedly in Parliament last month.
The pandemonium began as soon as the House assembled for Question Hour at 10.30 am, with Opposition MLAs already in the well before Deputy Speaker Bhabani Shankar Bhoi took his seat.
The House was adjourned twice — first from 10.43 am to 4 pm and later from 4.03 pm till 10.30 am on Friday. It could function for only 17 minutes during the two phases.
During the post-lunch session, which lasted just four minutes, Industries Minister Sampad Chandra Swain introduced the Odisha Jan Vishwas Bill, 2026, the second phase of the state’s regulatory reforms aimed at reducing the compliance burden on businesses and citizens.
During the first phase, the Opposition members raised slogans after Bhoi allowed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling to reply to a question, creating a noisy scene.
Some members were seen standing on reporters’ tables, while others shouted below the Speaker’s podium.
BJD members displayed banners with green backgrounds, while Congress MLAs wore black scarves to protest the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026.
Despite the din, Bhoi allowed ministers to reply to three questions.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari drew the chair’s attention to the disruption, saying he was unable to see the Deputy Speaker as Opposition members were standing on reporters’ tables in the middle of the well.
Both the BJD and Congress have demanded immediate withdrawal of the new mining law, terming it “anti-Odisha” and “anti-tribal”.
They have also alleged that the enactment of the MMDR Amendment Act has adversely affected the federal structure.
When the House reassembled at 4 pm, a similar scene prevailed and the Deputy Speaker was forced to adjourn the proceedings till Friday soon after the Odisha Jan Vishwas Bill, 2026, was introduced amid protests.
Introducing the Bill, Swain said it proposes 62 amendments across 16 state Acts administered by 11 departments.
Schedule I contains 35 amendments aimed at decriminalising minor, technical and procedural offences by replacing imprisonment or disproportionate fines with monetary penalties and simpler appellate processes, he said.
Schedule II contains 27 amendments that rationalise nine regulatory approvals by extending licence validity, reducing or ending renewals, introducing intimation-based registration and no-objection certificates, and removing duplicate permissions, the minister said.
After the House was adjourned in the first phase, BJD MLAs marched to the nearby headquarters of the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and staged a dharna.
“We came to the OMC office here as it has no more relevance after the passage of the MMDR Amendment Bill, 2026. The Centre has snatched the state’s rights over the mineral-bearing land of Odisha through this legislation. BJD will not tolerate this injustice,” BJD member Goutam Buddha Das told reporters.
Congress Legislature Party leader Rama Chandra Kadam said his party had opposed the mining law both inside and outside the Assembly and announced that it planned to call an Odisha bandh over the issue.
Congress MLAs later staged a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises.
(PTI News)
