Adapting to the ‘new normal’ brought in by the Chinese virus, the Puducherry Assembly came outdoors and sat under a neem tree to hold the Assembly proceedings for the budget session. This was a result of the meeting hall being shut down due to fumigation work following AINRC MLA Jayapal testing positive for the Wuhan virus.
The Speaker and the CM were looking for an appropriate alternative venue to hold the day’s proceedings and had finalised the open space available outside the main building. A tent was constructed along with tables and refreshments outside and the meeting was held for 3 days.
The Assembly was presided over by Speaker Sivakozhundhu, and the budget was discussed. All the departments participated in this session and the allocation of funds for each sector was discussed and decided. Any dissent regarding this was put to rest by means of confidence voting. MLAs of ADMK had protested against the government for not having taken any preventive measures to make sure that the spread of coronavirus is curbed inside the secretariat just as Narayanaswamy, the Chief Minister of Puducherry, had concluded the session. The Appropriation Bill earmarking 9000 crores tabled by the Narayanaswamy government and all demand for grants were passed without discussion.
Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi later gave her assent to the Appropriation Bill. She had however stayed away from delivering the customary address to the House.
Except AINRC legislators, all others were present for the 3 days session.
Notably, right after the session, one of the attendees was diagnosed to be corona positive, following which everyone who attended the session was ordered to be under home quarantine for the next 7 days.