Kohima, August 12: The one-day monsoon session of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) will be held in the Assembly Secretariat here on Thursday.
The session, which was earlier scheduled to be held on July 30, was postponed due to detection of at least 6 of the Assembly staff as COVID-19 positive on July 29.
Amidst the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the State, NLA Speaker Sharingain Longkumer said that the session is being held in order to fulfill the constitutional requirement of holding the session within a six months period.
Mention may be made here that even before the deferment of the July 30 scheduled session, the only opposition party – Naga People’s Front had appealed for minimum three-day session in order to hold discussions on Nagaland Political Issue, Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002 and the current COVID-19 pandemic scenario in the State, which was reiterated again.
However, Speaker Longkumer reiterated saying that before also it was fixed for a day and now also it will be a day-long session only.
Considering the pandemic situation and the welfare of all those attending the session, holding one day session is the best option, Longkumer said while asserting that meticulous arrangements have been put in place for the conduct of the session by maintaining SOP for COVID-19.
The Speaker also informed that the House would have an hour of deliberation on COVID-19 pandemic situation in the State, while other proposals of the Opposition on Naga issue and SARFAESI Act would be held during the full-fledged sitting of the House.
The effective strength of the 60 member House is 58 with the ruling NDPP having 20 MLA, its ally BJP 12 and supported by an Independent MLA. Opposition NPF has 25 MLAs. One member each from the ruling and opposition died last year.
As per the precautionary directive of the Speaker, all legislators, Administrative Heads of Department and their supporting staff, officials and staff of the State Assembly have undergone COVID-19 re-test, informed Commissioner and Secretary Dr P J Antony, adding that only those with negative test results would be attending the deferred session.
He also informed that altogether 19 MLAs, including the two, who had tested COVOD-19 positive, have taken leave expressing their inability to attend the session due to varied reasons.
Other business for the day include obituary reference, question hour, introduction and passing of government bill – The Nagaland Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill 2020, which will be moved by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio.
Rio will also lay the State Disaster Management Plan, Incident Response System, State Disaster Management Rules and Minimum Standards of Relief.
The annual administrative report of the state government departments 2019-2020 would also be laid by the Ministers.
(Page News Service)
