Odisha Assembly Speaker Surjya Naryan Patro has called an all-party meeting on November 18 to discuss the procedures to be followed during the winter session, which will begin from November 20 and continue till December 3.

Patro will seek the opinion of the MLAs on the vital issue of whether Question Hour should be held or not. “We will discuss whether there will be a Question Hour or not. However, efforts will be made to follow the practices adopted by Parliament,” Patro told reporters.

According to the programme, the Assembly will have two sittings and the total duration of the sittings will be four-and-a-half hours every day. The MLAs attending the session physically will have to go through mandatory Covid tests. Even police officials and journalists will be subjected to Covid tests.

Legislators also have the option to take part in the proceedings using the virtual platform.

On the first day of the winter session, the supplementary budget of Rs 11,200 crore will be placed before the Assembly for approval.

In a significant move, the Assembly secretariat has planned to go paperless this time. “All the employees of the Assembly are undergoing training for online file management. The Odisha Computer Application Centre is providing them training. The file work will be done using a software called Odisha Secretariat Workflow Automation System,” an official said.