SHILLONG: The autumn session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is set to commence from November 5 with the new normal of following COVID-19 protocols amidst the pandemic.
This is the second time in the year that the Assembly session would be held by adhering to the prescribed health and safety protocols.
Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Commissioner and Secretary, Andrew Simons said that the five-day autumn session would be held on the lines of the previous session where all protocols were maintained.
“We will have thermal scanners and hand sanitisers. We will maintain social distancing norms as well,” he said.
The seating arrangement would be made keeping in mind the physical distancing norms and leaving the requisite space between two seats.
“Even staff of different departments would be asked to restrict the number of officers to be sent to the Assembly for the session,” Simons said, adding that the Assembly Secretariat is also looking to utilise the upper gallery which usually remains empty during the session.
“Even the number of visitors would be restricted,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Assembly Secretariat has not taken any call so far on whether all the MLAs should undergo COVID-19 tests prior to attending the session.
It may be mentioned that last time, only four MLAs had turned up for the COVID-19 test conducted by the Assembly Secretariat and Health department.
The autumn session will have three days of government business while two days have been allotted for private members business.