Limited MPs to present, staggered seating for Budget Session of Parliament

New Delhi, Jan 31: Several measures have been taken ahead of the Budget session in parliament in the wake of the rising number of COVID-19 cases. A limited number of MPs will be seated in their original seats while others will occupy the galleries.

Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla said that the members of both houses may be seated at different locations by name to avoid confusion, crowding and enquiries.

The secretaries of both houses will reach out to the parties to finalise this seating arrangement for their MPs. The seats will be allotted in chambers and galleries of both Houses based on the strength of the parties.

The Question Hour will be held daily for 60 minutes. However in the Rajya Sabha the Question Hour will be cut down by 30 minutes as opposed to the 1 hour. The Lok Sabha is however yet to take a call on the duration of the Question Hour.

Rajya Sabha Chairman, Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla met on Sunday to take stock of the final preparations for the session. In the 2021 budget session, over 15 hours were spent discussing the President's speech and eleven hours were allotted to discuss the budget. This year the same amount of time could be allocated to discuss the Budget and the President's speech.