Monsoon Session: Parliament likely to use ultraviolet germicidal irradiation in ACs to kill virus, bacteria

Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation system in the air conditioning, polycarbonate sheets to separate officials' gallery and the Chamber, large display screens and consoles for participation from galleries are among a slew of measures one will witness when Parliament convenes for the Monsoon Session within a month.

The new arrangements come as part of measures undertaken to ensure social distancing norms that are part of Covid-19 during the Session, which will be convened before September 23. As per Constitutional provisions, the gap between two sessions should not be beyond six months and the Budget Session was wrapped up on March 23 this year.

As per the arrangements, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will not be sitting simultaneously as both the Chambers will be used for proceedings of one of the Houses.

Both Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had held a series of meetings earlier to finalise the arrangements for the Session. The government is yet to decide on the schedule of the Monsoon, which usually is convened in July third week.

Rajya Sabha officials said Naidu has directed them to ensure that all arrangements will be in place by the third week of August for testing, rehearsal and final inspection.

Officials said polycarbonate sheets will separate the Officials Gallery of Rajya Sabha from the chamber as both are in close proximity. Another feature in consideration is using the ultraviolet germicidal irradiation system in the air conditioning system of Rajya Sabha for killing bacteria and viruses in air supply.

Rajya Sabha chamber and galleries and Lok Sabha chamber will be used for seating the members of the Upper House when in session. Sixty MPs will be seated in the Rajya Sabha chamber while 51 will be seated in the galleries while the rest 132 will be seated in Lok Sabha.

Parties will be allotted seats in the chamber and galleries on the respective strength. Seats will be earmarked for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Leader of House Tawarchand Gehlot, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda, Ministers Ramvilas Paswan and Ramdas Athawale (who are Rajya Sabha MPs) and leaders of other parties will be seated in Rajya Sabha chambers.

Four large display screens of 85-inch size each will be placed in the chamber and another six of 40-inch size each in the four galleries of the House are being installed to enable members to watch the proceedings. All the seats in the galleries are being fitted with consoles to enable participation of members in the proceedings of the House from their seats.

Special cables are being laid connecting the two Houses of Parliament for transmitting audio-visual signals of the proceedings both ways without any time lag to enable real-time participation of members seated in the two Houses.

Naidu has also directed Rajya Sabha Secretariat officials to minimise the need for the members to physically handle various papers by ensuring necessary arrangements.