Telangana Assembly gears up for monsoon session to follow Covid norms

Hyderabad: The seating arrangements in the State Assembly and Council would be made in such a way that one member will be sitting on a single seat for maintaining social distancing in wake of Covid pandemic.

The monsoon session of the Telangana Legislature would be starting from September 7 and the House is likely to be in session for at least 20 days. The Council Chairman G Sukhender Reddy, Assembly Speaker P Srinivas Reddy and Legislative Affairs Minister V Prashanth Reddy on Thursday discussed on seating arrangements to be made as per the Covid norms.

According to sources, the government wanted all the members to attend the Assembly and Council and seating arrangements would be made as per the requirement. Sources said that 40 additional seats would be arranged in the Assembly Hall. There was also a proposal whether the members should be asked to come on alternate days but it was decided to ensure arrangements are made as per the total strength of members. The Telangana Assembly has 120 members including the lone nominated member. The Assembly is the same which was used during the undivided Andhra Pradesh and the strength during that time was 294.

Speaker P Srinivas Reddy asked the officials to take steps like all precautions taken to avoid spread of Corona and also ensure members actively participate in the session. The officials were asked to complete all the formalities by September 1. Sources said that the visitors may not be allowed in the visitors' gallery and is likely to be used by the media persons as physical distancing needs to be followed.

The officials showed the equipment used like thermal screening and others at the entrance and also in the inner lobbies to the Legislative Affairs Minister. The minister later visited the media gallery in the Assembly and Council hall and asked the officials to ensure physical distancing is maintained even in the press gallery.