K'taka: Suvarna Soudha gears up to host 10-day legislature session

Suvarna Soudha, where the Karnataka legislature session will be held after two years due to COVID related restrictions, is all decked up for the winter session of the assembly, which will commence from December 13.

The imposing replica of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, which was inaugurated on October 11, 2012, has not witnessed any session since 2018. The 10-day session will be held under the shadow of the new COVID variant Omicron, whose numbers climbed to three in the state on Sunday with one more person testing positive for it. The entire premises of Suvarna Soudha has been sanitised whereas strict COVID norms have been put in place, officials said. Those attending the session will have to produce certificate of having taken two doses of COVID vaccine and a negative RT-PCR test report. According to the official sources, at least eight bills could come up for passage including the Karnataka Municipal Corporation bill replacing an ordinance, University of Visvesvaraya University Bill and Ayush University Bill. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai hinted that the anti-conversion bill could be taken up during the 10-day assembly session. The CM was also optimistic about meaningful debates on development works and public grievances during the session. "The Legislature session will be held in Belagavi after two years. The state government has completed all the preparations for a smooth session. I wish to have fruitful debates on issues related to development and redressal of grievances of the people of the state," Bommai told reporters in Hubballi. He added that people of Northern Karnataka are keen to witness serious debates, especially on issues related to comprehensive development of their region. The session may also witness protests by farmers, especially sugarcane growers as hinted by a few farmer leaders.