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House panel meetings to resume from June 21
Officials maintained that June 21 has been chosen, keeping in mind the lockdowns in some of the states.
After a gap of more than two months, Indian parliamentary committees will resume their meeting from June 21, authorities involved in the planning told HT.
“The chairpersons of the standing committees have been informed that they can resume panel meetings from June 21,” said a senior MP who heads a panel.
Officials maintained that June 21 has been chosen, keeping in mind the lockdowns in some of the states. The authorities expect that by June 21, the remaining lockdowns would be lifted amid an improving Covid-19 situation in large parts of the country.
On June 21, the government would also switch over to the centralized vaccine programme in which the Union government would provide free vaccine to the states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Monday that the states would not have to pay for the vaccines and all adults can receive free vaccines organized by the Centre.
As the national capital and large parts of the country reels under the overwhelming second wave of Covid-19, many House committees had to cancel their meetings in the past few months and no new meeting have been planned.
Indian Parliament could work for only 34 days since the pandemic hit Indian shores in March 2020. The entire winter session of 2020 had to be cancelled while the last three other sessions were cut short.
The Labour panel, led by Bhartruhari Mahtab, had planned to meet on April 23 on cotton plantations and scheduled a study tour in April. “We had to cancel both. In my panel, at least 15-16 members are in the NCR region or UP and can travel by road to attend any panel meetings. But some of those members were reluctant to come for meetings,” said Mahtab.
The panel will now meet on June 23.
Earlier, a meeting of the agriculture committee was similarly cancelled, officials said. Another meeting of the IT panel, led by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had to be cancelled. Usually, three to four meetings of various parliamentary committees are scheduled in a week.
Officials said while the Covid-19 situation is preventing some lawmakers living in other states to travel to Delhi, many parliamentary officials too were not attending office and were working from home. “So, even if a panel wants to meet, proper arrangement for that meeting might be a challenge,” said a senior official.
