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Monsoon session of Goa Assembly likely to be curtailed to single sitting due to Covid-19

Hindustan Times, Panaji | ByGerard de Souza
Jul 03, 2020 05:27 PM IST

The deployment of police personnel, the involvement of government officials and several other department employees go into the holding an assembly session, where strict adherence to social distancing norms is not always possible.

Goa Speaker Rajesh Patnekar has decided to curtail the upcoming monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly to a single-day affair for a vote-on-account ordinance, which gives a government the permission to spend money to meet its expenditures, and a longer lawmaking proceeding could be planned later when the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak subsides.

An all-party informal meeting was held on Friday to take a call in this regard.“The Speaker had called a meeting seeking all the parties” suggestions. It was decided that the monsoon session will be reduced to a one-day affair because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Business Advisory Committee (BAC) will decide on the day’s business in the House,” said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant after the meeting.

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Digambar Kamat, Leader of Opposition and former CM, said his party (the Congress) has also concurred with Speaker Patnekar that the assembly session should be curtailed because of the spike in Covid-19 positive cases in the state.

“Friday’s meeting was an informal meeting called by the Speaker. There were discussions on various aspects. It has been decided to curtail the monsoon session to a day after reviewing the prevailing situation regarding the Covid-19 outbreak in the state,” Kamat said.Earlier, Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik on the advice of Speaker Patnekar had convened a two-week-long monsoon session of the assembly, starting July 27.

However, there has been a growing consensus among political parties to reduce the monsoon session – usually the longest – after Goa reported around 1,500 Covid-19 positive cases within five weeks and also four deaths related to the viral infection.

The deployment of police personnel, the involvement of government officials and several other department employees go into the holding an assembly session, where strict adherence to social distancing norms is not always possible.However, the opposition is wary that a curtailed monsoon session will come to the government’s rescue, as it could escape from being grilled for the alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“We have recommended a virtual monsoon session of the assembly. But we don’t even have an infrastructure to hold an e-assembly,” said Vijai Sardesai, a leader of the Goa Forward Party, a local opposition outfit.He alleged that the Goa government was slow on its uptake to recognise the health hazards posed by Covid-19.

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