India / Parliament ran for 18 out of 107 hrs, ₹133 cr of taxpayers' money lost: Reports

New Delhi: Since the Monsoon session began on July 19, the Parliament has functioned for only 18 hours out of possible 107 hours reportedly causing the loss of taxpayers' money amounting to over Rs 133 crores.

Both Houses of Parliament have witnessed uproar by the Opposition parties over issues including farmers' protests, Pegasus row, COVID-19, and inflation.

According to official sources cited by news agency ANI, Lok Sabha has only been allowed to function for about 7 hours out of possible 54 hours while Rajya Sabha so far has been allowed to function for 11 hours out of possible 53 hours.

In total, the Parliament has functioned only 18 hours out of the possible 107 hours, meaning that 89 hours of work time has not been utilised.

The total loss to the taxpayers' money is more than Rs 133 crores, said sources as quoted by the report.

The Upper House has been drastically affected in the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament as the Rajya Sabha Secretariat in an official notification stated that the House lost 40 out of 50 working hours during the first two weeks of the session.

"With disruptions continuing, the productivity of Rajya Sabha fell to 13.70 per cent during the second week of the ongoing monsoon session from 32.20 per cent during the first week, resulting in the overall productivity of 21.60 per cent for the first two weeks. Of the total 50 working hours available, 39 hours 52 minutes have been lost due to disruptions. The House, however, sat for 1 hour 12 minutes beyond the scheduled time, but for which the productivity would have been much lower," read the official notification.

During the nine sittings in these first two weeks, Rajya Sabha had 1 hour 38 minutes of Question Hour that is meant for ensuring the accountability of the executive to the Parliament. Then there was 1 hour 24 minutes for legislative business, passing four Bills with seven members intervening; 1 minute of Zero Hour and another 4 minutes on Special Mentions.

COVID-19 related concerns were discussed for 4 hours 37 minutes in the first week and the Union Minister for Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw put forth a Statement on the 'Pegasus Project' controversy.

In the first such instance, the Secretariat has started reporting in the daily bulletins, the business of the House that could not be taken up.

The Bills passed so far include the Marine Aids to Navigation Bill, 2021; the Juvenile Justice Amendment Bill, 2021; the Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The Coconut Development Board (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 were among the four Bills introduced in the Rajya Sabha. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired an all-party meeting at Parliament ahead of the commencement of the Monsoon session. PM Modi had laid emphasis on having healthy and fruitful debates in the Parliament.

"The government is ready to hold discussions on any subject if raised as per parliamentary rules and procedures," the PM had said as quoted by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister.