New Delhi: Lok Sabha monsoon session begins on September 14. Ahead of it Speaker Om Birla has given details on the seating arrangement keeping the social distancing protocols in mind in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Girls said, ‘257 members will sit in the Lok Sabha hall, 172 in the visitors’ gallery, 60 in Rajya Sabha and 51 in Rajya Sabha gallery. Both sessions will function consecutively.
“We have discussed with all parties. Seats have been allocated on the basis of the party’s strength in the house. Every party’s leader in the house will decide where members will sit,” Birla said on equal party representation in Monsoon Session.
Chambers will be sanitised and MPs will have to undergo RT-PCR test for COVID-19 before the session begins. Testing of MPs, staggered seating arrangements in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will be some prominent features of it.
“The Zero Hour will be of half-an-hour duration and there will no Question Hour but written questions could be asked and they will have to be answered,” Birla said, news agency PTI reported.
This time the session in the parliament will be different than regular. The attempts are being made to minimise the use of paper and MPs will mark their attendance digitally. Screen LEDs will be put up to conduct the proceedings smoothly.
Birla said, ‘arrangements for a virtual address in the Lok Sabha have also been done as Parliament will go 100 per cent digital eventually’.
‘For the first time in the history of Parliament, all members have sent their questions through online medium,” the Speaker. we have made 62 per cent of our operations digital’, said speaker