Coronavirus: Congress MP calls for official papers to be sanitised

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram wears a face mask in Parliament. (Express photo by Tashi )

Days after the Government signalled that the Budget session of Parliament would not be curtailed because of the spread of COVID-19, a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha on Thursday demanded that official papers supplied to members, including questions and answers, be sanitised.

“Every morning, we get a bunch of papers from the Parliament House, which contains the Questions and so many other papers. Nobody knows whether all those papers are sanitised or not. Nobody knows where this job of packing is done, nobody knows who is doing this job, nobody knows whether they have sanitised their hands or not,” Congress MP Pradeep Bhattacharya said during Zero Hour.

“My suggestion is that all the papers should be properly scrutinised and sanitised, and, the House should be adjourned immediately without any further delay,” he added.

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Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said “adjournment is no solution”, adding that “sanitisers have been given to all the people who have been dealing with these papers”.

“Further steps are to be taken keeping in view the suggestions given by Members… if any Member has some more suggestion, he or she can send the same in writing addressed to me or the Secretary-General,” he said.