Non-vaccinated Legislators will not to allowed to attend monsoon session of Bihar assembly:Speaker

Legislators who haven't been vaccinated will not be allowed to attend the upcoming monsoon session of the Legislative Assembly, Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha said on Friday, stressing on adherence to COVID related protocols for safe conduct of the House.

The assembly session will begin from July 26 and conclude on July 30.

''MLAs who have not been vaccinated against coronavirus will not be allowed to attend the proceedings of the house.

Vaccination is important for all the MLAs attending the house,'' the speaker told PTI.

He, however, said exemptions can be given to the members on certain medical grounds.

MLAs who have recovered after getting infected and have been specifically advised by their doctors to get vaccinated after a certain amount of time will be granted entry.

Besides, those who have not received jab because of medical reasons will also be allowed to attend the assembly, the speaker said.

''Such MLAs will have to furnish medical records to the Vidhan Sabha secretariat before the session starts'', Sinha said, emphasising that vaccination is important to fight the deadly virus.

Pandemic requires utmost caution and social awareness to check its spread, he said.

All the MLAs must get themselves inoculated. The government is providing the jabs free of cost, he said.

Arrangements have already been made for inoculation at the Vidhan Sabha premises for those who haven't received the vaccine, he said.

''I have instructed senior officials of the vidhan sabha secretariat to collect vaccination records of all the MLAs so that those who have not been inoculated so far, can be vaccinated before the session begins'', said the speaker.

It may be recalled that the speaker had ordered complete closure of the assembly secretariat when 44 oficials and staff had tested positive in the month of April.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and majority of the ministers and legislators have got themselves vaccinated.

As vaccination drive for those aged above 60 and those above 45 with co-morbidities began in Bihar on March 1, Kumar was the first person to receive the jab at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (IGIMS) in Patna.

Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav and his RJD MLA brother Tej Pratap Yadav were administered Sputnik V vaccine recently as per their choice.

The speaker has also been inoculated.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)