E-Paper
‘Doorstep Covid testing, sit and deliver speech’: Top suggestions for monsoon session
In the meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, health experts gave several suggestions to ensure maximum safety for MPs during the upcoming monsoon session.
Doorstep coronavirus disease (Covid-19) tests, liberty to sit and deliver a speech in the House, freedom to undergo real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test at a constituency, a one-way movement in the Central Hall and key corridors are some of the new measures Parliament will offer to the Members Parliament (MPs) to ensure a safe and secure monsoon session that will be held between September 14 and October 1.
In the meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, health experts gave several suggestions to ensure maximum safety for MPs during the upcoming monsoon session.
The MPs will sit maintaining the minimum required distance between two seats in a mini cubicle, which will be separated by plexiglass sheets.
Also read: Unlock 4 from September 1 - What changes, what remains the same
Dr. Randeep Guleria, the director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, suggested in the meeting that MPs should be allowed to sit and talk instead of the tradition of being on their feet. Sitting would ensure no spread of aerosol, Dr. Guleria explained. Speaker Birla is believed to have appreciated the suggestion, the officials said.
Rajesh Bhushan, Union secretary, health and family welfare, suggested another plan and that, too, met Speaker Birla’s instant approval.
Bhushan suggested that on the lines of the Vande Bharat Mission evacuees, who would undergo RT-PCR test before boarding a flight, similarly, MPs could be requested to undergo the Covid-19 test 72 hours before attending Parliament. Lawmakers could be asked to take the RT-PCR test either at their homes or respective constituencies, he added.
Also read: Row over Covid-19 vaccine in Australia, some clerics concerned
Dr. Guleria also suggested that one-way movement be allowed in some key corridors and the Central Hall of Parliament.
Visitors and media persons will not be allowed access to these areas during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament.
The measure, the AIIMS chief explained, would prevent MPs coming from face to face frequently and reduce the chance of transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.
Speaker Birla has taken the call that Indian Tea Board and Indian Coffee Board would supply the beverages in disposable paper cups and no glass would be used.
There was also some debate on installing an RT-PCR machine in the Lok Sabha. While Birla asked if such a machine can be installed in the Lower House of Parliament, health experts pointed out that handling large quantities of swab samples could be a risky proposition, as some might prove to be Covid-19 positive.
Instead, Dr. Guleria suggested that technicians could be sent to an MP’s residence in the national capital to collect the swab sample that could be sent for a test in a government-run laboratory. Birla lapped up the proposal and quipped: “Why didn’t I get such a good idea earlier?”
In the Vande Bharat Mission, the evacuees are required to upload their Covid-19 negative test report 72 before boarding a repatriation flight, if they would like to avail exemption from the mandatory seven-day institutional quarantine.
The guidelines stated that within 96 hours before boarding the flight, the evacuees could undergo an RT-PCR test at their city of departure, and if the tests show Covid-19 negative, they must post the result and go to their respective homes upon arrival in the country.
