<span style="color: #222222;">Odisha Essential Services (Maintenance) Amendment Bill-2020 was passed by the state assembly on Monday.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The bill seeks to amend the existing Act of 1988 to prohibit strikes by employees of essential services in the state.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">AIR correspondent reports, expanding the ambit of essential services, the bill includes services like fire service, excise, forest, prison reforms, electronics and Information and Communication departments.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">According to the provisions of the amended bill, persons resorting to or found instigating or funding illegal strikes may face imprisonment upto one year or a fine upto Rs. five thousand or both.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">While the opposition alleged the amendment was an attempt to suppress the voice of workers, the government defended it as a move so that citizens are not deprived of essential services.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Trade unions too have opposed it as a ploy to divest the workers of their democratic right to protest.</span><br />