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Goa Assembly conducts marathon sitting of 17 hours till 4:30 am
The Opposition questioned the government for trying to ‘compress’ what is usually a three-week-long session into three days.
The Goa Legislative Assembly created a record of sorts by holding a sitting for ‘unprecedented’ seventeen hours. The house finally got adjourned after 4:30 am on Friday that included a single continuous twelve-hour-long sitting which started at 4:30 pm on Thursday after the tea break.
Opposition legislators questioned the state government for its ‘hurry’ in trying to ‘compress’ what is usually a three-week-long session into three days.
“What is going on makes one wonder whether our chief minister is a doctor? If the assembly continues until 4:30 (am) what will happen to the health of those taking part? Which doctor prescribes this type of a routine that you are trying to compress an agenda of ten days in three days?” Opposition lawmaker, Vijai Sardesai, said.
It was the second consecutive day when the Goa Legislative Assembly ended late. The previous day’s proceedings also ended past 2 am.
While Parliament, as well as state assemblies, are known to have ended proceedings after midnight, the session of the Goa legislative assembly continuing until 4:30 am has been unheard of.
In 2019, the Gujarat assembly concluded at 12:09 am in what was then considered a record for the state.
BJP MLAs, however, said that the ‘shortened’ three-day assembly session was a necessity, a conscious decision to reduce the numbers that were taken to reduce the chances of avoiding an outbreak of Covid-19 and the consequent blame the government would have to face were that to happen.
On Friday, opposition legislators led by Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat asked the government to table the 11 bills that were listed for consideration and passing on the final day but summon a special session to have them passed.
“What message do you want to send by tabling and passing 11 bills, including the Mining Corporation Bill, and having them passed without any discussion?” Kamat said.
The Goa government has however stuck to its guns.
“The decision to hold a three-day session was taken by the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) and the Bills are important,” chief minister Pramod Sawant told the house.
The length of the session was, however, too long for some legislators to handle who had long dozed off by the time the proceedings came to a close.
