Assembly adjourned till 3 pm over school closure; Speaker directs minister to make a statement in the House tomorrow

Bhubaneswar, Nov 21:  The Opposition today forced adjournment of the Assembly proceedings till the afternoon over the government decision to close down around 8000 upper primary schools having less than 20 students, even as the Speaker directed the School and Mass Education Minister to make a statement in the House over the matter tomorrow. Speaker Dr Surjya Narayan Patro was forced to announce the closure of the House till the lunch break in view of the continuing uproar despite frequent adjournments in an attempt to restore normalcy in the House. The Opposition members were shouting slogans in the Well in protest. Even fire brand Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati threatened to commit suicide if the state government does not revoke the decision to close down the schools. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Congress Legislature Party Leader Narasingha Mishra said Education is a fundamental right. The Government should not deprive the children from education by closing down schools. The Congress leader, therefore, urged the Speaker to direct the government to roll back the decision. Opposition MLAs rushed to the Well shouting slogans supporting the demand. Deputy Leader of BJP Bishnu Charan Sethy also highlighted the issue and demanded the rollback of government's "anti-people" decision. On the other hand, defending the government decision, ruling BJD legislator Debi Prasad Mishra said the primary schools are not being closed arbitrarily. These schools are being shut down following the decisions of the government committees. Sensing the mood of the House, Speaker Dr Patro directed School and Mass Education Minister Sameer Ranjan Dash to make a statement in the House within a couple of days. Again, he revised his ruling and asked Dash to make the statement tomorrow. However, the Opposition uproar continued even as Speaker Dr Patro adjourned the proceedings several times to restore normalcy in the House. Finally, he had to adjourn the proceedings till 3 pm as found it difficult to run the House.