Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania today said that by holding a longer monsoon session of the 14th Vidhan Sabha — comprising 12 sittings — the norm of holding a minimum of 35 sittings in a year will be met.
Addressing a press conference here today, the Speaker said 15 sittings have already been held in the budget session earlier this year and 12 will be held in the monsoon session, which will take the total tally to 27.
“The total number of sittings in this 14th Vidhan Sabha in the last two-and-a-half years will touch 85 after the monsoon session.
Our endeavour is to ensure that this time we are able to meet the 35 sittings norm after the completion of the winter session later this year,” he said.
He said an all-party meeting had been convened at 12 noon on August 18, the opening day of the monsoon session.
He said Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Leader of Opposition, Deputy Chief Whip of the Congress and Chief Whip of the Opposition will attend the meeting to ensure the smooth conduct of the session.
“I hope the members, cutting across party lines will extend their full cooperation to ensure the smooth conduct and optimum utilisation of the 12 sittings during the session,” he said.
He revealed that till now a total of 830 questions, including 679 starred and 151 unstarred had been received from legislators.
Apart from this, 10 notices under Rule 62, six under Rule 101, 12 under Rule 130 had been received, which had been forwarded to the government, he added.
There will be two Private Members Days, where MLA’s can raise issues concerning their Assembly constituencies, he added.
Sharing details of the nature of queries and notices for debate moved by the MLAs, he said majority of the questions pertained to relief and restoration work following disaster-related damages.
Besides this, the queries are mostly on the vacancy position in health, education and other departments and the condition of roads and bridges damaged during monsoon.
