New Delhi: With frequent disruptions and
forced adjournments of Parliament by the opposition becoming
the order of the day, the public exchequer is likely to lose
crores of rupees in the on-going session as each hour of
functioning of the House costs Rs 25 Lakh.
As the winter session of Parliament commenced today, the
Lok Sabha met for only about half an hour. While the House had
to be adjourned during the Question Hour as the opposition
raised a din over issues like price rise, black money and
Telangana, it was adjourned for the day when it met again as
no order could be restored.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned after condoling the death
of two sitting members.
The adjournments and disruptions are likely to take place
in the coming days of the 21-day Parliament session.
According to official estimates, running the House costs
Rs 25 Lakh per hour. A normal day in Parliament may last upto
eight hours, beginning with the Question Hour at 11 am.
The House sitting may continue upto 8 pm with a one hour
lunch break.
This would mean a loss of Rs 2 crore on a day when no
business is transacted. Add the number of days and hours
wasted and the loss figures at the end of each session is
huge.
The opposition has used disruptions, adjournments and
walk-outs as a weapon to corner the government. However, this
leads to fewer debates and discussions on vital issues.
The whole of the winter session of Parliament in 2010 had
been washed out when an unrelenting opposition refused to give
up its demand for formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee
to probe the 2G spectrum scam.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 23:09