First for Madhya Pradesh Assembly: Question Hour sees online experiment

BHOPAL: Two Madhya Pradesh MLAs were on Monday allowed to participate in the Question Hour in the online mode, a first time occurrence in the state Assembly.

Congress MLAs Narayan Singh Patta (Bichhiya) and Ashok Marskole (Niwas) were connected online from Mandla and were seen on a huge screen installed recently in the House, with Speaker Girish Gautam saying the experiment of members asking questions through online mode duringQuestion Hour was being done for the first time.

MP Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra, however, said this mechanism should be limited to special circumstances so that the House's warmth can be maintained with the physical presence of members.

Patta asked a question about the posts lying vacant in 'Eklavya' schools in his region, while Marskole's query was about allotment of funds for the developmental works under schemes for tribal areas.

The ongoing session is the first full fledged one since the budget session in February last year, with other sessions being affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

During the outbreak, the then Protem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma had planned to allow members to participate virtually in the proceedings of the House, but the winter session was postponed in view of the COVID-19 situation in December last year.