Uproar in Assembly over mines law, textbook errors

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly’s monsoon session began amid pandemonium on Tuesday as Opposition members stormed the well of the House over the amended mining law and errors in new textbooks for schoolchildren, forcing adjournment of proceedings till 1.10 pm. The session began with an obituary reference to six former members of the Assembly and those killed in the Nepal flash floods.

Soon after, BJD and Congress MLAs trooped into the well, shouting slogans against the BJP government over the recent passage of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, in Parliament and the errors in textbooks for schoolchildren. While the BJD MLAs protested the errors in school textbooks, the Congress members demanded repeal of the MMDR Amendment Act.

Amid the din, Speaker Surama Padhy appealed to the MLAs to return to their seats, but in vain. The Speaker then adjourned the proceedings till 1.10 pm. After the adjournment, the BJD MLAs reached the Mahatma Gandhi Marg where the party’s youth and student wing members are staging an ‘Assembly Gherao’ agitation.

Speaking to mediapersons, Opposition Chief Whip Pramila Mallik said that the State government has been playing with the future of children. She alleged that the State government had done nothing over the past six months and was now, in view of the monsoon session of the Assembly, claiming to have distributed corrected textbooks in some areas. “We have placed our demand, and if the State government agrees to it, we will allow the House to function. Let the government first agree to our demand and ensure that School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond resign for playing with the future of the children. We have been demanding the resignation of the minister. If the government ensures the recovery of the additional amount spent from the public exchequer on the publication of new textbooks, we will call off our protest,” Mallik added.

BJP MLA Irasish Acharya criticised the Opposition for disrupting the proceedings. “The government has taken action in the textbook error matter. The corrected books are being distributed. They create noise without any justified reason,” Acharya said.

The nine-day monsoon session of the Assembly, scheduled to run till October 3, is expected to see the introduction of six key bills.

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The Hans India