Bhubaneswar: The 1st Session of the 16th Odisha Assembly began today with the address of Governor Ganeshi Lal who laid out the road map of the newly elected government.
The Session began with the customary ‘Guard of Honour’ which was accorded to the Governor at around 11 AM.
In his opening address, the Governor congratulated the new government for its fifth consecutive term and also hailed it for successfully tackling cyclone ‘Fani’. Later he paid condolences to the late former Ministers Harihar Karan, Gangadhar Pradhan and Bed Prakash Agarwalla and martyrs Prasanna Kumar Sahoo, Ajit Sahoo and Manoj Kumar Behera.
The Governor informed the house of the new government’s decision to hike the annual health coverage for women under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 10 lakh during his speech subsequently.
The State Government has decided to link the heritage Silver City Cuttack with the Smart City of Bhubaneswar by metro railway, he added.
The Governor’s address was followed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s condolences offered to the departed souls. Leader of Opposition (LoP) Pradipta Naik and former Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra also offered condolences to the departed souls on the occasion.
The 1st Session of the 16th Odisha Assembly will be having two phases and 30 working days. The first phase will continue till July 2 and the second phase will continue from July 12 to August 8.
Notably, the election for the Deputy Speaker of the House will be held on 27th of this month. The Budget will be presented on June 28.
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Ms Kalinga