Coronavirus: MLAs attend Odisha Assembly wearing masks

MLAs in Odisha Assembly on Monday wore masks to attend the concluding day of the budget session, in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The lawmakers were also seen washing their hands before entering Lok Seva Bhawan at the state secretariat, where the House proceedings are being held.

The session is being held at the Convention Centre within the premises of Lok Seva Bhawan, instead of the Assembly building as Odishas third COVID-19 patient was found to have come in contact with seven employees of the Assembly secretariat. This is for the first time in last six decades that the House proceedings are being held outside the Assembly building.

The entire Assembly building has been sanitised and all the staff members have been sent on home-quarantine. As Speaker S N Patro had earlier requested leaders of all the political parties to send only 30 per cent of their legislators to attend the session in Lok Seva Bhawan, about 50 MLAs were present in the House.

In order to maintain social distancing norms, the legislators were provided seats at least two metres apart from each other. The Odisha Aapropriation Bill, 2020 is slated to be passed in the Assembly which is to be presented by state Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari. The Assembly had suspended its proceedings on March 13 in the wake of coronavirus outbreak. Opposition BJP leaders have demanded an all-party meet to discuss the state's preparedness to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic.