HYDERABAD: MLAs shy away from shaking hands and hugs this time, and followed the six-foot social distancing rule, only one member to sit in 2-seater in the Assembly, place of second member marked with an ‘X’ symbol , those suffering from cold or cough advised not to attend, speaker urges members to sanitise their hands, Question Hour will be conducted for one hour where only 6 questions will be allowed, 30 minutes for Zero Hour.
Ministers and MLAs embracing each other and shaking hands as a mark of respect is a normal sight whenever an Assembly session begins. This was missing in the Assembly lobbies on Monday. All of them maintained six feet distance both in the House and also in the lobbies. The normal hustle and bustle was tempered by Covid safety measures on the first day of the Monsoon session of the State Legislature. All the members wore masks and maintained a “safe distance” from each other, quite literally. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao used his kanduva as a mask in the House.
There were no visitors either to the Assembly. Thus, the members after completion of the session left the premises. Only one member sat in each two-seater in the Assembly and in the Council. The place of the second member was marked with an ‘X’ mark and a label was pasted on the seat. As the movement of the media too was restricted, most of the cameramen and reporters were seen resting in the lawns near Gun Park. Only one journalist from each organisation was allowed to cover the proceedings. There was no media point this time. Mediapersons were not allowed into the chambers of the Ministers.