No entry in Haryana Vidhan Sabha without Covid-19 -ve report

For the first time, no visitors will be allowed to witness the House proceedings

LAWMAKERS WILL BE PROVIDED A KIT, CONTAINING MASKS, GLOVES, SANITISERS. SHOE COVERS WILL BE PROVIDED AT ENTRANCE OF THE VIDHAN SABHA

CHANDIGARH: With the 90-member Haryana assembly set to meet for a monsoon session on August 26, the first time since the pandemic outbreak, speaker Gian Chand Gupta has put in place some precautionary measures to keep the infection at bay.

For starters, no one, not even lawmakers, will be allowed to enter the Vidhan Sabha until they present a Covid-19 negative report, not older than three days.

Also, it will be for the first time that visitors will not be allowed to witness the House proceedings. The speaker’s as well as the visitors’ galleries will be converted into a sitting place for legislators to ensure social distancing. And every paper to be laid on the table of the House will go through the sanitisation machine.

“The Covid-19 negative report must not be more than three days old from the date of first sitting of the Vidhan Sabha,” said Gupta, who on Monday held meeting of the assembly secretariat to put in place the restrictions needed to “insulate the House from

Covid-19.” Though the Business Advisory Committee of the Vidhan Sabha will decide the duration of the session, there are indications that there would be two or at the most three sittings of the House. The session is being convened to meet the constitutional requirement of holding a session within six months of the previous session. Sources say that till Monday, the Vidhan Sabha secretariat had not received any business from the state government, except questions from legislators for the Question Hour.

According to the speaker, a special camp will be organised at the Vidhan Sabha complex for assembly employees to undergo a Covid-19 test “free of cost.”

From chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to his cabinet colleagues, and speaker, deputy speaker, officials of the security staff and the media, it is mandatory for all to carry a Covid-19 negative certificate.

The MLAS and ministers, Gupta said, have been urged to not bring their staff and supporters along. If needed, the personal assistants of the ministers will be allowed entry in the assembly premises. MLAS and ministers will be provided a kit, containing masks, gloves and sanitisers. Besides, shoe covers will also be provided at the entrance of the Vidhan Sabha. Special care is being taken to ensure that all items such as sanitisers, gloves, masks, sanitising machines, shoe covers that will be used during the session are ‘Made in India’ products. “The sitting arrangements of the lawmakers have been made in such a way that social distancing norms are followed,” the speaker said, pointing out that one MLA instead of two will sit on a bench. Two days before the beginning of the session, the MLAS’ hostel will be sanitised and members will have to vacate the hostel. Every inch of the house will be sanitised.