I thank all parliamentarians for choosing the path of duty even during the coronavirus crisis, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
"The monsoon session begins today, there is corona and there is responsibility. All parliamentarians have chosen the path of responsibility, I thank all of them for doing so. The budget session had to be stopped midway, this time too the timings of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha had to be changed. The week offs on Saturday, Sunday had to be revoked," the Prime Minister told reporters ahead of the beginning of the session.
"There will be many important decisions in this session, discussions will be held. It is our experience that the more intense, and diverse the discussion in the Parliament is the more benefits the country gets. This time too we all will do value addition to it. We will all have to follow the guidelines issued in view of the coronavirus situation," he added.
The Prime Minister hoped that the COVID-19 vaccine would soon be found to end the pandemic and the crisis phase would come to a stop.
The Monsoon session 2020 of Parliament commences today. The fourth session of 17th Lok Sabha and 252nd session of Rajya Sabha is scheduled to be held today and subject to exigencies of government business, may conclude on October 1.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the session will provide a total of 18 sittings spread over a period of 18 days (all the days including Saturdays and Sundays of the ensuing session will be working days) and a total of 47 items have been identified for being taken up during the Monsoon Session 2020. (These include 45 Bills and two financial items).
This will be the first Parliament session being held amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore all safety measures have been taken to conduct the session as per guidelines issued for COVID-19.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday has sent a safety COVID-19 kit along with a letter to all the parliamentarians amid the pandemic.
The Speaker said that Lok Sabha Secretariat has made all the arrangements for members' safety and convenience to enable them to participate in the deliberations of the House without any apprehension.
Earlier today, stisation work was also undertaken in the Parliament premises ahead of the commencement of the session.
( With inputs from ANI )
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