Large display screens and consoles will be installed for the first time for participation from the galleries. Special wires will be laid between the two houses and polycarbonate sheets will be arranged between the chairs.
In the wake of Covid-19, preparations are being made for the first time for the monsoon session of Parliament with a number of exercises. Changes are also being made to the seating arrangement in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to prevent infection. Following the proper distance, both chambers and galleries will be used to seat the members. Officials told about this.
The monsoon season is expected to begin in the last week of August or early September. According to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, members of the upper house will be seated in both the chambers and the galleries during the session.
For the first time in the history of the Indian Parliament, such an arrangement will be held where 60 members will sit in the Chamber and 51 members will sit in the Rajya Sabha galleries. Apart from this, the remaining 132 members will sit in the Lok Sabha Chamber.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat is also making similar arrangements for seating of members.
Large display screens and consoles will be installed for the first time for participation from the galleries. Special wires will be laid between the two houses and polycarbonate sheets will be arranged between the chairs.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla decided to use the chambers and galleries of the two houses after meeting on 17 July to discuss various options for running the session.
Naidu instructed the officials to complete the preparations for the session by the third week of August so that this system could be inspected and finalized. The Rajya Sabha secretariat has also been working continuously for this work for the last two weeks.
Sources said that usually both houses meet together but this time due to extraordinary circumstances, one House will sit in the morning and the other will be held in the evening.
Due to the Coronavirus epidemic, the duration of the budget session of Parliament was cut and on March 23, both houses were adjourned sine die.
The convention calls for a session of Parliament before the end of six months from the last session. Officials said that to prevent the spread of Covid-19, seating arrangements are being made for the first time in the House along with the rules of social distance.
He informed that various parties would be allotted seats in the Rajya Sabha Chamber and galleries on the basis of numbers and the remaining members would be seated in the two-section Chamber of the Lok Sabha for the ruling parties and others.
Seats will be marked for the Prime Minister, Leader of the House, Leader of the Opposition and leaders of other parties within the Rajya Sabha Chamber.
Former Prime Ministers-Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda, as well as Union ministers and Rajya Sabha members- Ram Vilas Paswan and Ramdas Athawale, will also have seats in the Chamber of the House. Other ministers will be seated on seats fixed for ruling members.
(Courtesy- Language PTI)