Lok Sabha members attend House by wearing masks, maintaining physical distance amid pandemic

New Delhi, Sep 14: Separated by plastic shields installed in front of their benches, members of Lok Sabha attended the first day of the Monsoon session being held amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While nearly 200 members were present in the Lok Sabha chamber, a little over 30 were seated in the visitors' gallery located above the main chamber.

A giant TV screen in the Lok Sabha chamber showed very few Lok Sabha members were occupying seats in the Rajya Sabha chamber, the other venue where the Lower House MPs have been accommodated keeping in mind physical distancing norms.

Benches which usually accommodate six members had a numbered sitting plan for only three. Glass-like plastic shields of varied sizes were installed in front of benches to protect members from coronavirus. The shield also covered part of the members' sides.

The front seats of the Treasury benches on the right of the Speaker's podium were occupied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting on a seat marked as number one, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on seat number 2 and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on seat number 3.

The front seats of the Opposition benches were occupied by TR Baalu of the DMK and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress. National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah was also present and was seated in the second row of opposition benches.

As soon as the prime minister entered the House, he was greeted with claps and "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" slogan. Modi greeted members, including those from the Opposition, with folded hands. All members were wearing masks. Some were also seen wearing face shields, including Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee.

The House met for neatly 20 minutes in the morning and was adjourned for an hour after paying tributes to former president Pranab Mukherjee, a sitting MP and 13 former members who died in the recent past.