The Assembly session was originally supposed to last for three days
Bhopal:
Eight bills were passed in 90 minutes by the Madhya Pradesh Assembly today, which held a one-day session amid the Covid pandemic, for which 78 MLAs were present in the House and 23 attended via video conference – a first for the state.
The session began at 11 AM. By 12.30 PM, a clutch of legislations, including the Finance Bill, the Madhya Pradesh Money Lender (Amendment) Bill, the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Law (Amendment) Bill and the Madhya Pradesh VAT (Amendment) Bill, were cleared.
Earlier, in line with guidelines in place during the pandemic, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was tested with a pulse oximeter and had his temperature checked before entering the Assembly building.
Mr Chouhan, who has recovered from a Covid infection, followed all precautionary measures.
However, former Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Home minister Narrotam Mishra were both seen without face masks, which are mandatory for all legislators and have also been made mandatory for MPs attending the monsoon session of parliament in Delhi.
Other ministers also underwent the necessary tests before entering the Madhya Pradesh Assembly building today, where arrangements had been made for hand sanitisers and, inside, social distancing.
The brief session was necessary at this point to follow rules that say that there cannot be more than a six-month gap between any two sittings of the Assembly. It had originally been scheduled for three days.
The same rule is the reason why parliament is being held with a host of strict Covid protocols.
After the passage of the bills the Chief Minister said arrangements in the war on the coronavirus were being made on a war footing. As a result, he said, the state’s recovery rate was 77.30 per cent and the crisis had been handled better than several other states.
However, Kamal Nath, who is also the leader of the opposition, highlighted several problems being faced by COVID-19 patients, such as non-availability of oxygen and ventilators and demanded an open inquiry into the management.
Meanwhile, a Congress MLA from Gadarwara staged a solo sit-in on Assembly premises demanding that a police officer – an Additional Superintendent from his district – be transferred, alleging that he is sheltering criminals in her constituency.
Madhya Pradesh has around 1.05 lakh Covid cases so far, of which 1,970 are deaths linked to the virus and around 22,300 are active cases.
