The ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament will be curtailed as early as September 24 amidst the rising coronavirus cases in the country. The decision was taken in Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of Parliament after consultation with all the parties on Saturday.
The monsoon session of the Parliament will be shortened by at least 7-8 sittings after the decision taken in BAC to end the session by 23 or 24 September, instead of October 1, due to the rising Covid-19. The final decision will be taken by speaker Om Birla.
In the on-going Monsoon session, the governments want to pass The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020; Code on Social Security and Welfare, 2020; Industrial Relations Code Bill, 2020 as a part of labour reform initiatives.
Apart from these Bills, Jammu and Kashmir Official Language Bill, 2020; National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, 2020; and Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 and other Bills will be passed by the house with the permission of the chair before the session is cut-short.
In the BAC almost all the 15 members, besides Trinamool MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, attended the meeting.
As per the current schedule, there have to be 36 Parliamentary sittings — 18 each for both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha — in the Monsoon Session which will continue till October 1.
The Lok Sabha has till now passed the widely protested farms bills. An ordinance has also been cleared by both the Houses to cut 30 per cent the salaries of members of the Parliament for funds to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Almost 25 MPs have tested positive for Covid-19 which include Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Prahlad Patel. Both had attended the ongoing session.
Members of both the Houses, on a voluntary basis in regular intervals take the RT-PCR test.
According to a new protocol to check the spread of Covid-19, reporters and parliament staff now have to undergo the rapid antigen test mandatory on a regular basis.
Parliament has adopted strong measures including the seating arrangement in a staggered way in chambers of both Houses, as well as galleries to maintain physical distancing. Mobile app for registering of their attendance and seats separated with poly-carbon sheets in the House has also been introduced by the Parliament.
As a precautionary measure, the Parliament had decided that no all-party meeting will be held before the monsoon session.
In the special arrangement amid the Covid crisis, Lok Sabha session commenced from 9 AM to 1 PM on the first day and from 3 PM to 7 PM later on.
Rajya Sabha from 3 PM to 7 PM on the first day and from 9 AM to 1 PM the rest of the days. Weekends will be working day