New Delhi: Opposition Rajya Sabha members demanded Wednesday curtailment of the ongoing Budget session, which is due to end April 3, in view of the novel coronavirus scare, but the government seemed unwilling.
In a first, the Rajya Sabha saw a few members wearing face masks as protection against the coronavirus, but the same was objected by Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu who said it was against the rules to wear any masks inside the House.
Four Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs came to the House wearing face masks. The party’s MP Derek O’Brien wore a black colour mask while his deputy Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, who said they were following the government advisory in wearing the masks, wore a white one.
However, when senior Congress leader P Chidambaram urged Naidu to allow MPs to decide on using protective gear depending on their perception of vulnerability, the Chair agreed.
Congress and other opposition MPs suggested that the Budget session be curtailed to practice social distancing being advocated by the government to limit the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus disease).
While Congress’ M V Rajeev Gowda urged the government to either curtail or postpone the remaining sittings of the Budget session, his party colleague Anand Sharma said the government was preaching social distancing but is not following it in Parliament.
“It is a matter of concern that when we are advising everyone to practice social distancing, Parliament is continuing to function. We should be setting an example to the rest of the country and preventing it,” Gowda said. “We meet people from everywhere across the country and we are probably most at risk within Parliament, and the House of Elders with extremely senior people are also at risk,” added Gowda. “The virus does not know that we are MPs. The virus does not care about MPs,” he further said.
Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, opposed any curtailment saying the House has to show the resolve to fight the infection. “Showing any panic will not be in the national interest,” Naqvi said.
Naidu said the entire Parliament Complex has been sanitised and hand sanitizers have been kept at various places. “I cannot simply respond to you on my own behalf. After all, it is the decision of the government and then of the House,” he said on pleas for curtailing the session.
Agencies