Telangana Assembly Adjourned Sine Die 12 Days Before Schedule Due to Rise in Covid-19 Cases

The COVID-19 pandemic forced an early end to the Telangana Assembly session as both the Houses were adjourned sine die on Wednesday, 12 days before the scheduled time. The decision was taken after AIMIM MLA from Nampally, Jafar Hussain and 52 people including police personnel, journalists and legislature staffers on duty tested positive for coronavirus.

Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Council Chairman G Sukhender Reddy adjourned the Houses sine die after completing the day’s agenda. Both the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council were originally scheduled to continue till September 28.

Council Chairman said the mood of the house at large was that there is a possibility of spread of the pandemic. Sukhender Reddy said as 1,200 people including legislators, police, media and others were attending the session there is general apprehension about the spread of COVID.

Srinivas Reddy held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the issue and had said the session would be cut short to prevent spread of the virus. The discussion was held after the AIMIM MLA announced that he tested positive on Monday.

The Assembly speaker had directed all legislators, legislature staff, policemen, media persons covering the session to undergo Covid-19 tests before the session resumed on September 7. Special arrangements were made ahead of the session including mandatory negative test reports, wearing of masks, and separate seating arrangement to ensure social distancing for legislators and those on duty at the Assembly premises.

Finance Minister T Harish Rao had tested positive a day before the start of the session.

The Assembly and Council passed 12 Bills and amendments to various Acts including the new Revenue act, Telangana State Building Permissions and Self Certification System (TS-bPass), during the session which lasted for eight days. The House passed a resolution seeking Bharat Ratna for former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and another resolution urging the Centre to withdraw the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020.

On the first day, both the Houses were adjourned after paying tributes to former President Pranab Mukherjee and TRS MLA Ramalinga Reddy, who passed away recently.

(With inputs from IANS)