10-day Himachal Pradesh assembly session from September 7 amid Covid curbs
Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar convenes all-party meeting to discuss arrangements for safe and smooth conduct of proceedings
The 10-day monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha will begin on September 7 amid strict Covid-19 safety guidelines.
Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar announced the decision after convening an all-party meeting to discuss the arrangements for the session.
Sanitiser dispensers will be installed on the premises, while arrangements have been made for thermal scanning of those attending the session. Staff from the health department equipped with thermal scanners and oxymeters will be deployed at the main gate of the Vidhan Sabha that has four entry points.
The Vidhan Sabha secretariat has installed polycarbonate sheet partitions on the seats of legislators to check the spread of coronavirus infection.
Social distancing will be ensured in the 68-member assembly.
To curb crowding in the Vidhan Sabha, the state secretariat will allow minimum number of people inside. Personal assistants of ministers and legislators will not be permitted in the assembly.
Only 30 journalists will be allowed inside the premises at a time.
The Vidhan Sabha will be sanitised after lunch and ahead of its meets in the morning.
No visitors will be allowed in the visitors’ gallery.
“All staff on Vidhan Sabha duty and those attending the House will be provided masks and sanitisers,” Parmar said after the meeting.
“On a normal day, nearly 1,200 people would be present day inside the Vidhan Sabha but this time, the number has been curtailed to 400,” he said.
As many as 577 starred questions and 288 unstarred questions have been listed for the session.
The meeting, convened by Parmar, was attended by law and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Bhardwaj, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Rakesh Singha and Independent legislator Hoshiar Singh.
