Bengal Assembly budget session cut short over COVID-19

The budget session of the West Bengal Assembly will be cut short over the novel coronavirus pandemic and the House will not meet after Tuesday, Speaker Biman Banerjee said.

At an all-party meeting on Monday on the Assembly premises, attended by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee and floor leaders of Opposition parties, the Speaker said the second part of the session, which commenced on Friday, would be truncated as part of the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the deadly COVID-19.

Those who attended the meeting said all agenda, except for three bills, including the appropriation bill, would put on the back-burner.

Voting for the Rajya Sabha elections will, however, take place as scheduled on March 26.

After the meeting, Chatterjee said the decision was taken keeping in mind public interest.

Opposition parties -- CPI(M), BJP and the Congress -- said they would welcome any move taken for the welfare of the state.

Left Front legislative party leader Sujan Chakraborty has voiced support for the "pro-people decision".

Earlier in the day, while addressing the Assembly, Chatterjee said the state was on a high alert on account of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country, urging the Opposition parties to unite and stand by the government in its fight against the outbreak, which has claimed over 6,000 lives worldwide.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country rose to 114, with Odisha reporting its first COVID-19 patient and a new case each in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The Maharashtra government also reported four more patients of the infection, which the Union Health Ministry did not immediately add to its national count.