Bhubaneswar: Members of Odisha Assembly, cutting across party lines on Friday condoled the demise of sitting MLA and former Speaker Surya Narayan Patra and four former MLAs who have died during the intervening period between the last session and the current session of the house.
The former members who passed away were Trilochan Kanungo, Ramesh Soren, Nibedita Pradhan and Kumar Behera.
The house also condoled the death of security personnel —Debashish Biswal, former LanceNaik , Rashtriya Rifle, former Constables Sushant Kumar Khuntia, CRPF, and Sushant Kumar Mohanty, Odisha Rifle who have laid down their lives for the country.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik moved an obituary reference to condole the demise of the former Speaker, former members of the house and the security personnel .He requested the Speaker to convey the condolence to the members of the bereaved families.
Leader of the Opposition J N Mishra, Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra and Speaker Pramilla Mallik later joined the leader of the house to condole the deaths.
Later the house observed one minute silence as a mark of respect to the departed souls.
After the obituary reference, Speaker Pramila Mallick who was elected to the post on Friday adjourned the house till 5 PM as a mark of respect to the former Speaker.
State Finance Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh is scheduled to present the first Supplementary statement of Expenditure for 2023-24 when the house will meet again at 5 PM.
