Coronavirus not discussed, Congress walks out of House
SHIMLA : Members of the opposition Congress on Wednesday, staged a walkout from the assembly after speaker Vipin Singh Parmar rejected their demand to suspend the day’s business to discuss coronavirus risk in the state.
As soon as the house met for the day, leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri demanded adjournment of the house to discuss the situation arising out of the novel coronavirus. Members of the opposition had moved a motion of adjournment under Rule 67 to discuss the matter.
Rejecting their demand, the speaker said that coronavirus scare has spread in the nation and it is not a matter to be discussed.
Members of the opposition insisted that the speaker should allow them to raise the issue before the chief minister issues his statement, but their demand was rejected.
Parmar allowed Thakur to issue his statement on coronavirus which further agitated the opposition.
The legislators resorted to sloganeering, and after a few minutes staged a walkout from the house.
The chief minister said that the opposition was not taking the matter seriously and were trying to politicise the issue.
He added that three suspected cases of coronavirus have been reported from Bilaspur and Kangra district.
ALL 3 CASES REPORTED ON MARCH 3
A suspected coronavirus patient from Bilaspur had visited South Korea recently and currently is under quarantine at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) in Shimla.
Two persons from Kangra returned from Italy and have been admitted to isolation ward at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College in Tanda.
“The state health department is fully prepared to tackle the outbreak of the virus,” said chief minister Jai Ram Thakur.