Budget session of JS begins today
The budget session of the eleventh parliament begins this afternoon amid the ongoing second wave of Covid-19. Scheduled to begin at 5pm, this will be also the thirteenth session of this parliament.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is scheduled to place the budget for 2021-22 fiscal on the following day.
The last budget session of the current parliament was prorogued after only nine working days due to the pandemic, which was the shortest budget session in the recent history of Jatiya Sangsad.
The daily order of business of this year's budget session will be carried out with minimum lawmakers in the House, in an attempt to maintain social distancing and avoid the risk of Covid-19 infection while duration of the session will be brief.
"Maintaining all health guidelines, the budget session will continue for around two weeks," Zafar Ahmed Khan, senior secretary of the parliament secretariat, told The Daily Star recently.
"Due to the ongoing second wave of Covid-19, the budget session will be as short as possible to avoid the risk of infection. No other business except for budgetary and other important activities will be done during the upcoming session," he added.
Usually, the session continues for 30 to 35 working days having discussion on the general budget for 55 to 60 hours.
Only MPs, staff members and officials of the parliament secretariat, who will be tested negative for Covid-19, will be allowed to attend the session, sources at the parliament secretariat said.
The question-answer session for ministers and the prime minister in the session will be tabled, Zafar Ahmed added.
Parliament has taken various health safety measures during the budget session. Apart from the budget related officials and employees of the parliament secretariat, others will be discouraged to come to the parliament.
Senior members of parliament will be advised not to take part in the session considering their age.
The parliament will run every day with 80-90 lawmakers, so that they can sit maintaining distance in compliance with the health guidelines.
As per the rules of parliament procedure, the presence of 60 out of 350 members of parliament is mandatory for ensuring a quorum to start the sitting of a parliamentary session.
Presence of respective ministers and MPs would be ensured in the session on particular day when the session will have business related to them.
The constitution has an obligation to pass the budget before June 30. The rules of procedure also instruct the members of parliament to discuss the proposed budget.
Sources at the parliament secretariat said media will be requested to cover the budget session through live telecast of Sangsad Television instead of coming to parliament.
No pass will be issued to journalists to cover the session this time due to Covid-19 situation. However, one reporter from each media outlet will be able to collect budgetary documents.