Tripura govt plans to organize monsoon session of Assembly in open park due to Covid-19 threat

New Delhi: Taking cue from Bihar, the Tripura government is likely to organize monsoon session of the Assembly in any open park, apparently because of Covid-19 threat. This will help legislators in maintaining adequate social distance, as Coronavirus prevention norms suggest. The session is likely to begin in 3rd week of September.

Tripura Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath, who recently visited Heritage Park, told reporters that an alternative is being searched.

“It will not be right to hold the session in the assembly house… assembly sessions in many states were held outside the assembly building with restrictions. The Tripura government is also planning to hold the monsoon session outside the assembly house so that all precautionary measures can be taken properly”, he told reporters.
Bihar had on August 3 held its day-long session of two houses of the state legislature outside assembly premises in Gyan Bhawan in view of Covid-19 crisis.

Tripura has 60-member assembly. The BJP and its ally Indigenous People”s Front of Tripura (IPFT) came into power in 2018 after ending 25-year- long Left rule in the northeastern state. While BJP has 36 MLAs, IPFT has 8 taking the combined strength of the ruling coalition to 44. Opposition CPI(M) has 16 MLAs in the house.

The five-day budget session in Tripura which had started on March 20 was cut short to 2 days due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

It is mandatory to organize assembly session within a gap of six months, the law minister said, adding he visited the park to see if it will be possible to hold the assembly session there.

“However, the final decision on holding the assembly session in the open is yet to be taken,” Nath said.

He said state like Assam has also decided to hold four-day autumn session of the assembly from August 31 with 50% presence of the MLAs to maintain social distancing norms during pandemic.