The standing committee of Home Affairs is scheduled to meet on June 3 the first since Parliament was abruptly adjourned on March 23 followed by an extended lockdown.
The meeting has been convened by Chairman of the Standing Committee on Home Affairs Anand Sharma. Mr. Sharma has also written to the Rajya Sabha Chairman on Wednesday asking the House to provide for an alternate option of video conferencing for the members who are not able to join the meeting.
“I have written to Rajya Sabha Chairman Mr. Venkaiah Naidu that the members who are unable to reach Delhi because of various restrictions or other reasons should be allowed to join the meeting via video conference and a safe platform must be provided for them,” Mr. Sharma told The Hindu. He said the members should not be left out of the deliberations just because they are unable to travel.
Mr. Sharma didn’t reveal the agenda of the meeting but said key officials of the Home Ministry would be asked to join the deliberations since the extended lockdown, the inter-State movement, the movement of migrant workers and other guidelines are all issued by it.
With the resumption of air and rail transport, Presiding officers of both Houses of Parliament, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, had met to review the facilities in the Parliament House to allow for the meeting of the standing committees while following the norms of social distancing. Nine such rooms have been identified in the Parliament House complex.
Sources said the National Informatics Centre has been working on a possible platform where the members can join the meetings via video conferencing. The NIC has been asked to work out how many members can join at one time and how many such meetings can be held. However, so far, nothing has been finalised.