The second budget session of the current parliament of Bangladesh

The second budget session of the current parliament of Bangladesh is starting on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. The session will begin at 5 pm with Speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury in the chair. Health protection has been strengthened ahead of the session. Elderly and sick MPs have been advised not to attend the session. Nur-e-Alam Chowdhury, chief whip of the ruling party, said that while there was a risk in the Corona situation, strict precautions were being taken to deal with it. All necessary steps have already been taken to ensure that no newcomers are infected from the budget session. He also said that elderly and sick MPs have been requested not to attend the session. Meanwhile, as part of the Corona caution, the eighth (budget) session of Parliament has been shortened. On the first day, the activities will end by raising the ordinance and accepting the mourning proposal. As per custom, the session will be adjourned after the discussion on the mourning motion on the death of the current Member of Parliament Habibur Rahman Mollah. The next day, on June 11, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will raise the budget proposal for the fiscal year 2020-2021.

The proposed budget will be discussed in just 5 days. And the whole budget will be spent in the process of passing 10 days. In that case, a maximum of 20 hours of budget discussion can take place. There were about 60 hours of discussion last year. This discussion will continue every day from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. The budget will be passed on June 29 and the main budget on June 30. In just 12 working days, the shortest budget session in the history of the country may end on July 9. Officials of the Parliament Secretariat said that due to the Corona situation, the meeting of the Parliamentary Advisory Committee is not being held before this session. Earlier, due to constitutional constraints, the working advisory committee did not meet even before the seventh session of the one-day parliament on April 16.

And the special initiative has been taken to keep the attendance in the Parliament session among 90 people. Whip Abu Saeed Al Mahmoud Swapan has been assigned to coordinate the matter. Meanwhile, strict restrictions have been imposed ahead of the session. Every year on the day of the budget presentation, diplomats of different countries, important personalities of the state were present but no one was invited this time. Moreover, the presence of the officers and employees of the Parliament Secretariat to conduct the session has also been restricted. Only those who need it will come. And their samples were tested and confirmed as corona negative and kept in quarantine. Concerned people said that the arrangement of seats in the parliament has also been changed to prevent corona infection. In that case, several seats around the Prime Minister will be left vacant. As part of that, Parliamentary Whip Nur-e-Alam Chowdhury, sitting in the seat just behind the Prime Minister, will have to sit in a row. Others' seats have also been left blank. Members of Parliament who join Parliament must observe hygiene rules. Everyone has been forced to wear a mask. In addition, everyone has to enter through the disinfection chamber placed inside the tunnel.

Meanwhile, 6 MPs have already been attacked by Corona. Jessore-4 (Bagharpara-Abhaynagar) MP Ranjit Kumar Roy has been infected with the latest coronavirus. He was admitted to the isolation ward of Jessore Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on Monday night after he tested positive for corona.

Earlier, as Corona tested positive, Bir Bahadur Ushaising, a Member of Parliament from Bandarban constituency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Minister in charge of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, was brought to CMH from Bandarban by helicopter. Among the corona victims, Sirajganj-1 MP and former health minister Mohammad Nasim is still in critical condition.  He was admitted to Bangladesh Specialized Hospital on June 1 with pneumonia. However, the first Corona-affected MP, Mohammad Shahiduzzaman Sarkar of Naogaon-2 constituency, has already fully recovered.

Besides, Ebadul Karim Bulbul of Brahmanbaria-5 constituency, ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury of Chittagong-6 constituency, Faridul Haque Khan Dulal of Jamalpur-2 constituency and Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhury of Chittagong-16 (Banshkhali) constituency have also been attacked.