India / Doubts about budget session Corona wreaks havoc on Parliament building more than 700 employees infected

New Delhi : Corona has wreaked havoc on the employees of Parliament House. A senior Rajya Sabha official told Hindustan Times on Wednesday that so far more than 700 officials of Parliament House have been infected with Corona. Most of these have been found to be asymptomatic. Officials are concerned about the spread of corona ahead of the budget session starting January 31.

A senior Rajya Sabha official said, “Out of the people tested in the Parliament House complex since December 4, 718 have been found infected with corona. These include 204 employees of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. The rest are from the Lok Sabha Secretariat and other services related to Parliament."

Let us tell you that till January 9, there were about 400 corona cases in Parliament. The new figure shows a 43 per cent increase in cases among Parliament officials in just three days.

Officials familiar with the matter said both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have asked one-third of their employees to work from home. Both the Houses have directed 50% of their officers and employees below the rank of Under Secretary/Executive Officer to work from home till the end of January.

A senior Rajya Sabha official said, “The brainstorming is going on about how to organize the budget session amid the third wave of corona. Rajya Sabha Speaker M Venkaiah Naidu reviewed the situation along with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and the General Secretaries of both the houses have been asked to explore the options.

He said, “We are looking at various options. But the final option will depend on the situation of Kovid by the end of this month. The meeting of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha will be held around January 25 or 26 to decide how to conduct the session.