The Odisha Assembly on Monday witnessed a ruckus over the leakage of a question paper of the High School Certificate Examination.
Members of opposition BJP and Congress rushed to the Well of the House and raised slogans over the issue. As pandemonium prevailed, Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha adjourned the proceedings till 4 pm.
Except passing the obituary reference moved by Leader of the House Naveen Patnaik, no other business could be transacted during the first half of the session.
As soon as the House assembled for the day, Patnaik moved the obituary reference to condole the death of former Jharsuguda MLA Biren Pandey on Sunday.
Soon after the obituary reference, the BJP and Congress members stormed into the Well and shouted slogans by showing photocopies of the Mathematics question paper on the last day of the examination on Monday.
Unable to run the House, the Speaker adjourned it till 4 pm.
The opposition members alleged that the question paper was leaked in Puri, the home district of School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash.
Talking to reporters, Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi alleged that the State Government is playing with the future of students. “The examination was on and I got the question. There is truth in the allegations and hence the School and Mass Education Minister should resign. We believe that the Minister is lying and he was aware of the question paper leak. It seems that it is a conspiracy to ruin the future of students,” said Majhi.
Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said, “The Matric question papers were leaked daily. It is a conspiracy by the State Government for benefiting major private schools which have been set up by BJD leaders.”
The Mass Education Minister, however, denied the opposition allegation. He said he had talked to the district Collector, BSE officials and the department, but there was no information about the leak of the question paper.