Now, demand to hold Budget Session in Nagpur grows
Nagpur: Finally, it is now official. The Winter Session of Maharashtra Legislature, commencing from December 7 in the Second Capital City of Nagpur, will be held in Mumbai in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision was taken at the Business Advisory Committee meeting held at Vidhan Bhavan on Tuesday.
The Winter Session is held in Nagpur every year, the second capital of Maharashtra. However, after deliberations, leaders of both ruling and opposition parties agreed to convening the session in Mumbai this year. Last week, officials from Vidhan Bhavan Secretariat went to Nagpur to review the situation. However, it was felt relocating administrative employees and providing accommodation for two-three weeks in Nagpur would require mammoth arrangements, which was not advisable in the backdrop of Covid-19.
The MLA Hostel, which accommodates members when they arrive in Nagpur for the Winter Session, at present is running a Covid-19 Centre. Several lodging and boarding facilities are handling coronavirus patients. Therefore, providing alternative lodging and boarding arrangements and maintaining social distancing was thought to be a difficult exercise.
During the Winter Session in Nagpur, a large number of administrative staff, along with volumes of official files are transported from Mumbai to Nagpur. Along with ministers, elected members and their staff, arrangements require advance preparations. A sizable security force relocates from across the state to Nagpur during the session.
At the BAC meeting on Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Nana Patole, Council Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Opposition Leader in the Assembly Devendra Fadnavis, Opposition Leader in the Council Praveen Darekar, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar along with other Cabinet Ministers and officials were present.
Budget Session in Nagpur?
The decision to hold Winter Session in Mumbai instead of Nagpur due to corona outbreak, sparked a strong demand to hold the next Budget Session of State Legislature in Nagpur. Dr Nitin Raut, Guardian Minister of Nagpur District and State Energy Minister, raised the demand of holding the Budget Session in Nagpur.
Chandrakant Patil, State President of Bharatiya Janata Party, also demanded the Budget Session to be held in Nagpur. “It was a foregone conclusion that the Winter Session would not be held in Nagpur as the rulers do not have courage to move out of their homes. It was necessary to hold a 15-day session to discuss several issues including farmer suicides and COVID-19 deaths that have been haunting the common people,” he said while criticising Maha Vikas Aghadi Government comprising Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party, and Congress.
