Seven legislative bills received the nod of the Assembly in the absence of the Opposition on Wednesday.

The bills were passed within around two and half hours on Wednesday, the penultimate day of the ongoing monsoon session of the Odisha Assembly, which had ten working days.

Among the seven bills, five were amendment bills. Another one was a new legislation intended to set up a private unitary and self-financing university, namely Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology University.

The House also accorded its approval to repeal the Bihar and Odisha Places of Pilgrimage Act, 1920, as it felt that the provision for a lodging house fund in Puri pilgrim town has lost its relevance in view of the functioning of new organisations — such as Puri Municipality, water supply and drainage units of Puri and various units of the state health department.

The amendment bills passed on Wednesday were: Odisha Official Language (Second Amendment) Bill, Odisha Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, Odisha Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, Odisha Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill and Odisha Hindu Religious Endowments (Amendment) Bill.

The Odisha Official Language Act was amended to make the use of Odia as mandatory in the legislature. Similarly, it was clearly stated that the officials or departments would be awarded incentives for extensive use of the official language, while the erring officials and departments would be punished.

Before the House took up the consideration and passage of the bills, leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said the Opposition members were staging a walkout as they felt that the ruling party had no regards for the views of the Opposition. He said that the resolution to include the word “ahimsa” in the Preamble to the Constitution was passed in the Assembly on Tuesday ignoring the views of the Opposition.