After the monsoon session, the shadow of the Covid-19 contagion is looming large over the winter session of Uttarakhand assembly scheduled from December 21. The three day session would be held in the physical absence of the leader of the house as chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat was found infected with Covid-19 on Friday.
After testing positive for the disease, the CM has isolated himself and is under the observation of doctors. The CM had already authorised the parliamentary affairs minister Madan Kaushik to answer the questions related to the departments headed by him on the floor of the assembly. However the CM is now Covid-19 positive and would not attend the three day session. In his absence the entire burden to defend the government and answer the questions of the opposition is now on the shoulders of Kaushik. It is also likely that the state minister Rekha Arya who too was found positive for the disease would not attend the session.
It is worth mentioning here that the speaker Premchand Agarwal has categorically stated that only those members would be allowed entry into the house who would submit the Covid-19 negative report. The ministers and MLAs would now get them tested for the Covid-19 in the next two days and it is likely that some more could miss the session due to the disease. The Covid- 19 pandemic has already forced the government to conduct the monsoon session for only one day on September 23. At that time the speaker Premchand Agarwal, leader of opposition (LoP) Indira Hridayesh, state minister Dhan Singh Rawat and deputy leader of Congress legislature party Karan Mahra could not attend the session as they were infected with Covid-19.
The upcoming session assumes significance that apart from other constitutional works, the supplementary budget would be placed and passed during it. The opposition Congress has already expressed its intention to remain belligerent on the government. The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President Pritam Singh has said that the party would raise the issue of farmers, unemployment, corruption, district development authorities, plight of the stakeholders and Teerth Purohits who are agitating against the Char Dham Devasthanam bill in the house. The party has also demanded that the term of the house should be extended to at least eight days.
Saturday, 19 December 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
