Day-1 of Winter Session causes Rs 1 crore loss to the nation

New Delhi, Nov 23: The first day of the Winter Session of Parliament is estimated to have caused a loss of Rs 1 crore to the nation as the Lok Sabha lost four hours due to the disruption created by BJP leaders. The opposition party did not allow Home Minister P Chidambaram answer any question in the Lok Sabha. It demanded his resignation and targeted the government over the 2G scam and black money issue.

According to an official of PRS Legislative Research, a policy study group revealed that the Lok Sabha, which normally meets for five hours a day, was in session for just about half-an-hour before it had to be adjourned due to the pandemonium. The disruption came despite an appeal from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the session's smooth running to enable important legislative business.

However, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned to mourn the death of two sitting members, Ram Dayal Munda and Silvious Condapen. As the Lok Sabha was adjourned twice, once during the Question Hour and later for the day after noon, the house lost about four hours of work. A rough estimate, based on the budgetary allocation for parliament's functioning, puts the cost of an hour's work of parliament at Rs. 25 lakh. Considering this, it has caused a loss of about Rs 1 crore to the exchequer.

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