Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday urged all members of the House to ensure a "democratic and parliamentary space" for a productive winter session.
He also lamented the failure on the part of all concerned to introspect over the unruly incidents during the last monsoon session and commit to do the needful to prevent their recurrence.
Stating that this continues to haunt all, Naidu urged the members to draw the right lessons as all sections of the House and the country ended up as losers from the derailed monsoon session.
Naidu further said, "Each one of you can raise any issue in an appropriate manner and unequivocally express your point of view on any issue if only we create space for that instead of din in the House. There is a certain scope for that kind of a democratic and parliamentary space with collective will....I look forward to manifestation of that spirit during this session."
Naidu said the treasury benched wanted a detailed enquiry into the conduct of some members during the final two days of the last turbulent session.
He said he had tried to reach out to the leaders of various parties when some of them made it clear that their members would not participate in any such inquiry. Some leaders expressed concern over the way the functioning of the House was derailed and condemned the unruly incidents.
"On my part, I was expecting and awaiting the leading lights of this august House to take lead in expressing their outrage over what had happened during the last session with assurances of introspection and spirited efforts to prevent recurrence of such incidents. Such assurances by all concerned would have helped me in appropriately handling the matter. But unfortunately, it was not to be," Naidu said.
Chairman Naidu informed the House that the eight Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees of Rajya Sabha held 21 meetings for a total duration of 39 hours 33 minutes with an average attendance of 48.58 per cent per meeting. The Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture reported the best performance with an average duration of 2 hours 48 minutes and attendance of 51.61 per cent per each of the four meetings.
The Committee on Commerce held the highest number of five meetings for a total duration of eight and half hours.
( With inputs from ANI )
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