The special session of Parliament started on Monday.
The session will be held inside the old Parliament building today.
The new Parliament House will host the special session on Tuesday (September 19).
The special session of the Parliament is to be held between September 18 and 22.
The government has announced that eight Bills have been listed for consideration and passage during the session.
The new Parliament House was inaugurated over three months back.
The Members of Parliament will move into the building on Tuesday, the second day of the special session.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has informed floor leaders of various political parties about the move at an all-party meeting convened by the government on the eve of the Special Session of Parliament.
“On the first day, the session will be held in the Old Parliament House. The next day, September 19, there will be a photo session, which usually is reserved for the end of the Lok Sabha’s tenure. Then at 11 a.m., there will be a function in the Central Hall. After that, we will enter the new Parliament. The Parliament session will start in the new Parliament on September 19 and regular government work will start there from September 20,” Joshi said during a presser.
Only three days of the session will be reserved for government business, about which there is still no clarity. Many parties — including some NDA allies, such as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the National People’s Party (NPP) — demanded that the Women’s Reservation Bill be cleared during this Special Session of Parliament.
The agenda of the special session is unclear.The government faced a volley of questions about why it is maintaining “secrecy” about the session’s agenda. Several Opposition leaders have said it showed the government’s lack of confidence in Parliament.
Several leaders also expressed disappointment at the “late invites” for the flag hoisting function at the new Parliament.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK’s) Tiruchi Siva tore up the invite at the meeting, protesting against the fact that the invites were only in Hindi.
He has also reportedly complained that most of the MPs received their invite for Sunday’s function only in the late evening on Friday.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) member also complained that the government had made no arrangement for Opposition leaders’ participation at the event, since chairs were reserved only for the Ministers.
At the beginning of the meeting, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah suggested that Parliamentarians must pay tribute to the three officers who have laid their lives in an ongoing encounter with militants in Anantnag in southern Kashmir.
A minute of silence was observed at the end of the meeting for the slain officers.
