Orissa assembly adjourned over farmers committing suicide

Bhubaneswar, Nov 19 : The Orissa assembly was repeatedly adjourned Thursday as the opposition Congress took up the issue of dozens of distressed farmers committing suicide allegedly due to their crops failing and government neglect.

Trouble began as soon as question hour started with leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh demanding that the deaths of the farmers in various parts of the state be condoled in the house.

Speaker Pradip Amat rejected the demand saying the house had no such practice, prompting Congress legislators to rush towards the speaker's podium shouting anti-government slogans.

The speaker wanted the members to raise the matter only after question hour was over, but the opposition legislators were in no mood to oblige and did not allow the speaker to conduct normal business.

The speaker initially adjourned the proceedings of the house for one hour, but had to do so repeatedly when the chaos in the house continued.

The opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party allege that at least 30 farmers have died in the past few months due to crop failure and the government's apathy towards their plight.

On Wednesday, the opening day of the month-long winter session, the opposition members demanded that the house should include the names of the deceased farmers in the obituary references. This had been rejected by the speaker.