The budget session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly will commence from March 25 and will conclude on March 31. Finance minister Niranjan Pujari will table the budget on March 30.

All the officials and members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly will have to undergo a Covid test before the beginning of the session. Their swab will be collected and those found to be negative will be allowed to enter the Assembly premises.

However, this time journalists will not be allowed inside the main Assembly building because of Covid restrictions. There will be a makeshift arrangement in a newly constructed building from where they can watch the proceedings on close circuit television and report.

Congress legislature leader Narasingha Mishra said: “We had raised the issue during the all party meeting convened by the Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro on Tuesday and asked the government to allow the journalists to cover the proceedings. But the government declined our request citing the health department’s concern on the prevalent Covid situation.”

However, during the all party meeting, it was agreed that all would cooperate for smooth conduct of the session. “We discussed how the proceedings of the House would go on smoothly and all the business transactions will take place,” said government chief whip Pramila Mallick.

The ruling party, which has swept the rural polls and put the Opposition on the backfoot, is hopeful that it would not face any major challenges from the Opposition BJP and Congress in the House. However, all eyes will be on Pujari’s budget, whether it would be a pro-people budget or bring some tax burden on the people. The state is facing a tough time to manage its finances following the slowdown in business for the last two years because of the pandemic.

The House may also witness some heat over issues such as maintenance of law and order and ruling BJD’s alleged attempt to sway the voters through populist announcements which, the opposition says, is not in the interest of the state in the long run.

While law and order situation in general seems to have plunged with incidents of murder and rape on the rise, there is also growing concern over the activities of Maoists in some areas of the state. “These are issues of serious concern and we will try our best to make the government accountable on that,” said a senior BJP leader.