Speaker Surya Patro has said the monsoon session of the Assembly would be held before September 30, Days after opposition parties in Odisha demanded the legislative Assembly be summoned.

To pass the Appropriation Bill, the last session of the state secretariat was held on March 30 in the convention hall. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, discussion on Demands of Grants of all the departments could not be taken up.

Patro said as per the rule, the next session should be held within six months. Accordingly, the House should be in session before the deadline of September 30, he said.

“I have spoken to my Rajasthan and Karnataka counterparts over holding of the Assembly session during Covid-19 pandemic. I also consulted the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha secretary in this regard. All raised the concern on maintaining social distancing in the House. Therefore, we are calculating whether the session could be held by maintaining social distancing in the Assembly. During the period, we will fix the date for the session after consulting with the chief minister and Governor of Odisha,” he said.

However, Patro, said that as the seats in the Assembly may not be enough for the 147 members if social distancing measures are followed, we are yet to decide the venue of the session.

Earlier this month, the opposition BJP and Congress had demanded holding the monsoon session of the Assembly to discuss the Covid-19 situation and other problems faced by the people.