Chaos reigns on Day 1 of Maharashtra monsoon session

MUMBAI: The first day of the two-day monsoon session of the Maharashtra assembly began on a chaotic note on Monday morning.
With entry inside Vidhan Bhavan restricted to limited people and only those with a Covid-19 negative certificate being allowed to enter, there was a huge crowd of MLAs and state government employees at the gates. Despite being tested 48 hours earlier, several were yet to get their certificates.
Over 2,000 people, including legislators and staffers, had been tested at the camp organised at Vidhan Bhavan. Nearly 47 people have tested Covid positive, including six MLAs. Minister of state for higher and technical education and urban development, Prajakt Tanpure, is among those who tested positive.
In a break from tradition, there was no meet-and-greet among MLAs from different parties and the protest by the opposition on the steps of the Vidhan Bhavan, which used to set the mood for the session, didn’t happen either. The morning chaos prompted MLAs to take up the matter with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who stepped in and ensured the entry was smooth for legislators.
On Monday, about 190 of the 288 members turned up for the sessions. Deputy speaker of the house, Narhari Zhirwal, read out detailed safety guidelines to all the members. The screening of bags at the entrance was done using UV sanitizer lights and MLAs were seated at a distance from each other in adherence to Covid-19 safety protocols. “We were obviously nervous, but adequate safety provisions were made. It wasn’t like the first day of the sessions. Generally, we meet each other and many MLAs invite us for lunch with food items from his/her region, but all that was missing today. Many of us left immediately after the house was adjourned,” said an MLA from Mumbai.
Food packets were made available for MLAs and staffers. The canteen on the ground floor was partially opened with limited food options. Legislators from outside the city have been put up in hotels in south Mumbai.
For the first time in history, 60 legislators participated in the house business by sitting on the first floor visitors’ gallery due to social distancing measures. Most of them were first-timers such as NCP’s Rohit Pawar, Congress’s Dheeraj Deshmukh, Shiv Sena’s Yogesh Ramdas Kadam and others.
The government has provided a safety kit comprising a face shield, masks, hand gloves and sanitiser for two days to all policy-makers.