Amid threat of second Covid-19 wave, winter session of Maharashtra legislature to be held in Mumbai instead of Nagpur

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic and potential second wave of the infection, the state legislature has decided to hold its winter session in Mumbai instead of Nagpur.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic and potential second wave of the infection, the state legislature has decided to hold its winter session in Mumbai instead of Nagpur. The session is likely to be postponed and duration reduced depending on the Covid-19 situation over the next two weeks.

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The decision about holding the session in Mumbai was taken in a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the state legislature on Tuesday. It was also decided to hold the budget session of the legislature in Nagpur, depending on the Covid-19 situation in February 2021. Traditionally, the winter session of the state legislature is held at Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra.

The meeting was attended by legislative council chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, legislative Assembly speaker Nana Patole, chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray and deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

“Considering the current situation and the possibility of a rise in cases after Diwali, we have deferred the decision about the date and duration of the session. We will have another meeting of the BAC by end of the month, and will take a call whether to begin it on December 7 as scheduled or postpone it by a week or two. The decision about holding it for one week or two will also be taken in that meeting,” said Patole.

The decision of shifting the winter session to Mumbai from the traditional venue of Nagpur was taken on the basis of a report by the state legislature after their review last week. After a visit by the chairman of the upper house, speaker of the lower house and officials from the legislature, they came to the conclusion that it could prove risky to hold the session in Nagpur. “At least 5,000 people, including police personnel, legislators and political workers from across the state attend the session. The employees need to report to Nagpur at least two weeks in advance and will need to quarantine as a precaution. In such a background, we recommended to avoid holding it in Nagpur,” said an official from the legislature.

The option of holding the season online has been ruled out by the legislature secretariat. According to the officials from the secretariat, it will need a lot of manpower as every legislator will have to be given technical assistance.