Budget session adjourned till July 19

NT NETWORK

Panaji

The budget session of the Goa legislative Assembly was adjourned on Tuesday till July 19, 2021 after passing vote-on-account for five months due to the model code of conduct imposed in the state owing to the forthcoming elections to five municipal bodies.

Following the surge in COVID-19 positive cases in the state and Panaji MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate, who had attended the session in the first week, testing positive for COVID-19 on last Friday, fear of spread of virus was being raised among the members of the legislative Assembly.

The Business Advisory Committee of the Assembly, which met on Tuesday afternoon, decided to curtail the ongoing budget session midway, which was supposed to culminate on April 16.

After passing the Goa Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill 2 of 2021 on the Floor of the House, the Speaker of the Goa legislative Assembly Rajesh Patnekar announced the adjournment of the proceedings of the House till July 19, 2021 at 11.30 am.

The budget session will continue from July 19, 2021.

The Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat, who had moved the resolution in the Business Advisory Committee along with other opposition members, said that the Assembly session needs to be curtailed due to the ongoing code of conduct for municipal elections.

The State Election Commission on Tuesday morning announced the schedule for five municipal council polls. The elections for five civic bodies will be held on April 23.

The Assembly had passed a vote-on-account of Rs 4,176 crore in respect of estimated expenditure for two months, which was for April and May 2021, on March 25, 2021. However, as a decision was taken by the Business Advisory Committee on Tuesday afternoon to postpone the budget session till July 19, the state legislative Assembly passed a second vote-on-account of Rs 10,439.85 crore in respect of estimated expenditure for five months, which is from April to August 2021.

Following the report of the Business Advisory Committee tabled by the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on the Floor of the House, the Leader of Opposition Kamat reminded that he along with other three opposition members had submitted written request to curtail the session after seeking vote-on-account for few months in view of election code of conduct for five municipal councils of Sanguem, Quepem, Margao, Mormugao and Mapusa.

Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai took a dig at the Chief Minister for not accepting the request of the opposition members of postponing the budget session during the BAC meeting held on March 17 and appealed to the government not to ignore such suggestions.

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