Venkaiah Naidu, Om Birla hold discussion on virtual meetings of parliamentary committees

On the first day of the fourth phase of lockdown, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla held a meeting here on Monday in the chamber of the Chairman and discussed the issue of virtual meetings of parliamentary committees among other issues, sources said.

"At today's meeting, two officials of the Parliament briefed the presiding officers on the discussions they have held so far and, in particular about a safe technical platform for video conferencing to be provided by the National Informatics Centre (NIC)," a source said.

The two officials were directed to submit a detailed report at the earliest for further consideration.

They were also informed about the technical arrangements to be put in place for enabling video conferencing and the issues likely to be faced during virtual meetings of the committees.

Sources said Naidu and Birla also exchanged feedback on the activities of the members of parliament during the coronavirus-induced confinement and restrictions on their movement in some states as reported by MPs.

Sources said this was the second meeting of the presiding officers of the two Houses on the issue of meeting parliamentary committees. They had earlier discussed the issue May 7.

They said that during their first meeting, presiding officers directed the Secretaries-General of the two h Houses to examine all issues concerning the meetings of the committee by video-conferencing for submission of a report for further consideration.

The central government has extended the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus till May 31 with a set of new relaxations.

( With inputs from ANI )