The prevailing lockdown of State in view of the threat posed by the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) would have no effect on the budget session of Uttarakhand Assembly. The remaining part of the session would start in Dehradun from March 25. As per the programme, the session would end on March 27 but the session could be adjourned on March 25 itself after passing the departmental budget. However the final decision on the duration of the budget would be taken in the meeting of business advisory committee scheduled on March 24.
The budget session of Uttarakhand Assembly started at Bharadisain near Gairsain in Chamoli district on March 3. The session was adjourned on March 7 by the speaker Prem Chand Agarwal till March 25. The Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat who also holds the finance portfolio had presented a budget of Rs 53526.97 Crore for the financial year 2020-21 at Gairsain. In the second part of the session, the departmental budgets would be passed by the assembly in Dehradun. Holding of session is necessary to get the required nod from the Assembly for the budget. The State Government would be able to make payments from April 1 only after the ‘finance bill’ is passed from the assembly.
Meanwhile the staff members of the Uttarakhand Assembly are gearing up to hold session in a virus free environment. The speaker Prem Chand Agarwal is himself monitoring the preparations. He has directed the officials to ensure that everyone including the members of the house, employees and visitors are sanitised properly when they enter the Assembly building. A team of health department would remain stationed at the Assembly entrance to check the suspected patients. They would be provided with thermal scanners to check the visitors. On the orders of the speaker all the visitors and members of the assembly would be provided with masks. The speaker said that he has held talks with the Chief Secretary and Director General of police for reducing the number of employees during the session. He added that the official residences of Speaker, deputy speaker, leader of opposition (LoP) and MLA hostel would be sanitised before the session. The speaker has directed that only the offices of parliamentary section, question section, accounts, protocol, management and establishment would remain open and employees of remaining sections would work from home during the period of lockdown.