It’s final: No Winter Session in Nagpur
   Date :11-Nov-2020

Anil Deshmukh_1 &nbs
 Nana Patole, Speaker of Assembly; Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister; Ajit Pawar, Deputy CM; Anil Deshmukh, Home Minister, and others during BAC meeting for Assembly held in Mumbai on Tuesday.
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
BAC of State Legislature takes decision to hold the session in Mumbai next month
 
 
After preparations and some expenditure, finally, it was decided on Tuesday that the much-awaited Winter Session of Maharashtra Legislature would not be held in Nagpur as scheduled. Instead, the session will be held in Mumbai. The decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of State Legislature held in Mumbai. As per the schedule, Winter Session was scheduled to commence in Nagpur from December 7. The BAC was supposed to chalk out duration of the session and business to be transacted during it.
 
Rajendra Bhagwat, Secretary of Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat, took stock of preparations for the session in a meeting held on November 6 in Vidhan Bhavan, Nagpur. He issued several instructions too, and asked the agencies concerned to take necessary precautions considering COVID-19 pandemic situation. Bhagwat had said that BAC would take final call regarding the session. It was enough of an indication that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government was thinking of not holding the Winter Session in Nagpur. Two separate meetings of BAC were held in Mumbai on Tuesday -- one for Legislative Council and another for Legislative Assembly. In both the meetings, as per the official word, “Many legislators suggested that it would not be appropriate to hold Winter Session in Nagpur against the backdrop of COVID-19.” Accordingly, the BAC decided that the session should be held in Mumbai instead of Nagpur ‘considering the COVID-19 crisis prevailing in the world, India, and Maharashtra, and overall COVID-19 situation’.
 
 
Though the BAC decided to hold the session in Mumbai, the schedule announced for the Winter Session may not be followed. For, BAC decided to meet again in the last week of November to take decision whether the Winter Session could be held from December 7 as scheduled and what should be its duration. A review of the preparations for the session also was taken. Since it was anticipated that the Government might not favour holding Winter Session in Nagpur, some leaders had started raising the demand that Budget Session of State Legislature should be held in Nagpur in March 2021. For, it is mandatory as per the Nagpur Pact to hold at least one session of State Legislature in Nagpur. Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister; Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister; Anil Parab, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs; Anil Deshmukh, Home Minister; Balasaheb Thorat, Revenue Minister; Rajendra Bhagwat, Secretary of Legislature Secretariat, attended the meeting. Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, Chairman of Legislative Council, chaired the meeting for the Council. Dr Neelam Gorhe, Deputy Chairperson; Pravin Darekar, Leader of Opposition, also attended the meeting for the Council. Nana Patole, Speaker of Legislative Assembly, chaired the meeting for the Assembly. Narhari Zirwal, Deputy Speaker, attended the meeting. Devendra Fadnavis, Leader of Opposition, attended the meeting via video-conferencing.
 
 
Chorus grows for holding Budget Session in Nagpur The news of Winter Session being held in Mumbai instead of Nagpur evoked growing chorus for holding next Budget Session of State Legislature in Nagpur. Dr Nitin Raut, Guardian Minister of Nagpur district and Energy Minister of Maharashtra, raised the demand of holding Budget Session in Nagpur. In the history of Maharashtra Legislature, Winter Session was not held in Nagpur only once or twice. A total of 18,000 personnel including 8,000 policemen would have come to Nagpur for Winter Session. As per ICMR’s warning, cold wave in Nagpur in December is likely to contribute to spike in number of COVID-19 cases in Nagpur.
 
“Against this backdrop, I welcome the decision of Business Advisory Committee to hold session in Mumbai instead of Nagpur. But, it is very important to hold a session of State Legislature in Nagpur to discuss various issues of Vidarbha. Therefore, the next Budget Session should be held in Nagpur,” demanded Dr Raut, who is also Chairman of Scheduled Castes Department of All India Congress Committee. Chandrakant Patil, State President of Bharatiya Janata Party, also demanded Budget Session to be held in Nagpur. “It was definite that the session would not be held in Nagpur as the rulers do not have courage to move out of their homes. It was necessary to hold a 15-day session to discuss several issues including farmers suicides and COVID-19 deaths that have been haunting the common people,” he said while criticising Maha Vikas Aghadi Government comprising Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party, and Congress.