Masks not allowed inside Rajya Sabha, says Naidu
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the BJP parliamentarians that the ongoing budget session of Parliament will not be curtailed in the wake of COVID-19 scare, many opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday suggested that the session should be curtailed to practice “social distancing” being advocated by the government to limit the spread of the virus. The session is scheduled to end on April 3. The Upper House also saw for the first time some Opposition party MPs wearing protective masks, to which Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked them to remove as masks are not allowed in the House. To the opposition members’ suggestion that the budget session should be curtailed, Mr Naidu said any decision in this regard will be taken by the the government in consultation with stakeholders. Later, when the House took up the Question Hour at noon, proceedings had to be adjourned till 2 pm after Congress members created an uproar over detention of party MP Digvijay Singh in Bengaluru.
Maintaing that rules do not allow members to wear masks in the House and that “it will be difficult to conduct” proceedings if the chair was defied, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu informed
“We have sanitised the entire Parliament Complex. This is just for information. Secondly, the hand sanitisers have been kept at various places. Thirdly, from time to time, all the necessary arrangements also will be made. In addition to these, if members have any suggestions, they can convey to the Secretariat or they can convey to the Chairman about the need to take some more steps as far as this sanitisation and the required measures are concerned.” However, Opposition members urged that MPs should be allowed to decide on using protective gear.