Parliament goes into budget session Wednesday

Amid the ongoing coronavirus situation, the parliament is going to short budget session for 2020-21 fiscal on Wednesday.

The budget session is set to begin at 5pm in the parliament with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair, reports BSS.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal would place the national budget for 2020-2021 fiscal year in the parliament at 3pm on June 11, a day after commencing the budget session.

The size of the proposed budget could be approximately over Tk5,60,000 crore.

The budget session is set to continue for 12 days, parliament sources said.

In the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the eighth session of the parliament is going to begin in a different situation in the history of the country.

It has been decided to conduct the budget session in a new way from the parliament secretariat this year by following strict rules and regulations under the present coronavirus situation.

Under the current situation, journalists would have to collect the budget session news from the Sangsad Bangladesh Television instead of attending the parliament.

Considering the health risk due to the Covid-19 situation, diplomats from different countries and the important personalities of the country are not being invited to participate in the budget session.

Even the attendance of the lawmakers at the budget session will also be made limited due to the corona situation.

“Only 80-90 enlisted parliament members out of 350 have been invited on behalf of the Whip to join the budget session,” according to a parliament release.

The aged parliament members have been discouraged from joining the session.

At the same time, the parliament secretariat officials and employees also have been asked to join the session on a limited scale. Only those whose presence is necessary for the session would be allowed to the parliament office.

To put a check on infections, changes have been brought in the sitting arrangement.

A significant number of seats around the prime minister’s seat would be kept vacant.

Same rule would be followed for other members, the release said, adding that the parliament members would follow the health guidelines.

Wearing a mask is mandatory for everyone and all parliament members and employees would have to enter the parliament through the disinfectant tunnel.

The discussion on the supplementary budget for 2019-2020 fiscal would be made and it would be passed on June 14 and 15.

Then the discussion on the proposed budget for 2020-2021 fiscal would begin on June 16. The closing discussion on the budget is scheduled to take place on June 29 and the finance bill is expected to be passed on the day.

The budget is scheduled to be passed on June 30.

Except the budget presentation day, the parliament session would begin from 10:30am and continue till 1:30pm without any break.